• [ network ]
  • goatmatrix.net
  • gvid.tv
  • img.gvid.tv
  • games.gvid.tv
  • apps.gvid.tv
HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Steven Pinker Wants Enlightenment Now!

Views:916
@ReasonVids

America, observers are fond of saying, is the only country based upon an idea. That idea—that all men and women are created equal and have inalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness—is directly informed by the Enlightenment, the movement that dominated ideas and culture in the 18th century.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.


But are we still an Enlightenment nation?

"The Enlightenment principle that we can apply reason and sympathy to enhance human flourishing may seem obvious," writes Steven Pinker in his new book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress. "I wrote this book because I have come to realize that it's not."

Pinker is a linguist who teaches at Harvard and is the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Blank Slate, and How the Mind Works. He's been named on the top 100 most influential intellectuals by both Time and Foreign Policy.

In this wide-ranging interview with Reason's Nick Gillespie, Pinker explains why he thinks Pope Francis is a problem when it comes to capitalism, nuclear energy is a solution to climate change, and why libertarians need to lighten up when it comes to regulation. He also makes the case for studying the humanities as essential to intellectual honesty and seriousness even as he attacks that "cluster of ideas, which is not the same as the humanities, but just happens to have descended over large sectors of the academic humanities: "the deep hatred of the institutions of modernity, the equation of liberal democracy with fascism, the feeling that society is in an ever-worsening spiral of decline, and the lack of appreciation, I think, that the institutions of liberal democracy have made the humanities possible, made them flourish."

For full text, links, credits, and downloadable versions: https://reason.com/reasontv/2018/03/22/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now


Edited by Todd Krainin. Cameras by Mark McDaniel and Krainin.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
philosophy
,
nuclear power
,
life expectancy
,
post truth
,
humanism
,
postmodernism
    Thumbnail for Should We Build the Wall? We Asked Trump Supporters.6:02
    Should We Build the Wall? We Asked Trump Supporters.
    ReasonVids
    1017 views
    Thumbnail for We Read Hillary's Book So You Don't Have To4:38
    We Read Hillary's Book So You Don't Have To
    ReasonVids
    1004 views
    Thumbnail for Why are libertarians so susceptible to infighting?2:27
    Why are libertarians so susceptible to infighting?
    ReasonVids
    970 views
    Thumbnail for Just start your own bank0:20
    Just start your own bank
    AOUisgay
    574 views
    Thumbnail for The Case Against Jamie Oliver: Why the Naked Chef Should Take His "Food Revolution" Back Home6:53
    The Case Against Jamie Oliver: Why the Naked Chef Should Take His "Food Revolution" Back Home
    ReasonVids
    945 views
    Thumbnail for Bracing for ObamaCare: Shirley Svorny on the Economics of Healthcare Regulation4:55
    Bracing for ObamaCare: Shirley Svorny on the Economics of Healthcare Regulation
    ReasonVids
    884 views
    Thumbnail for The Legal Way to Rig an Election: Filmmaker Bill Mundell on Gerrymandering9:23
    The Legal Way to Rig an Election: Filmmaker Bill Mundell on Gerrymandering
    ReasonVids
    1061 views
    Thumbnail for How To End Poverty in the South Bronx8:25
    How To End Poverty in the South Bronx
    ReasonVids
    1024 views
    Thumbnail for Reason Heads to Denver6:01
    Reason Heads to Denver
    ReasonVids
    980 views
    Thumbnail for LA Food Police Ban Burger Joints: Is Your City Next?7:57
    LA Food Police Ban Burger Joints: Is Your City Next?
    ReasonVids
    971 views
    Thumbnail for 3 Reasons Anchorman 2 is The Most Important Movie of The Year1:52
    3 Reasons Anchorman 2 is The Most Important Movie of The Year
    ReasonVids
    1031 views
    Thumbnail for Is There a Silver Lining to the Supreme Court's Obamacare Decision?7:55
    Is There a Silver Lining to the Supreme Court's Obamacare Decision?
    ReasonVids
    949 views
    Thumbnail for "We Need a Libertarian Che Guevara": Activist Starchild9:09
    "We Need a Libertarian Che Guevara": Activist Starchild
    ReasonVids
    857 views
    Thumbnail for Athens of the Prairie: How Columbus, Indiana Got Great Architecture4:09
    Athens of the Prairie: How Columbus, Indiana Got Great Architecture
    ReasonVids
    971 views
    Thumbnail for "The Slants:" A Band Name Too Racist to Trademark!8:03
    "The Slants:" A Band Name Too Racist to Trademark!
    ReasonVids
    1087 views
    Thumbnail for Trump: "It's Not Been Easy For Me...My Father Gave Me a Small Loan of $1 Million"0:06
    Trump: "It's Not Been Easy For Me...My Father Gave Me a Small Loan of $1 Million"
    ReasonVids
    960 views
    Thumbnail for Candidate Austin Petersen Says He's the "Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama" of the Libertarian Party6:59
    Candidate Austin Petersen Says He's the "Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama" of the Libertarian Party
    ReasonVids
    1002 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: The Philly Soda Tax Scam4:52
    Stossel: The Philly Soda Tax Scam
    ReasonVids
    982 views
    Thumbnail for The Growing Libertarian Youth Movement: Q&A with SFL's Alexander McCobin and Blayne Bennett2:16
    The Growing Libertarian Youth Movement: Q&A with SFL's Alexander McCobin and Blayne Bennett
    ReasonVids
    966 views
    Thumbnail for National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark on the Libertarian Party's Plan for 20168:52
    National Committee Chair Nicholas Sarwark on the Libertarian Party's Plan for 2016
    ReasonVids
    1001 views
    Thumbnail for Libertarian Dad Jokes2:53
    Libertarian Dad Jokes
    ReasonVids
    863 views
    Thumbnail for Gay Activist Jimmy LaSalvia: "Why I Left the GOP (And You Should Too)"8:35
    Gay Activist Jimmy LaSalvia: "Why I Left the GOP (And You Should Too)"
    ReasonVids
    955 views
    Thumbnail for The Juggalos March on Washington5:13
    The Juggalos March on Washington
    ReasonVids
    1061 views
    Thumbnail for System Of A Down - Aerials (Official HD Video) | systemofadownVEVO4:04
    System Of A Down - Aerials (Official HD Video) | systemofadownVEVO
    invidious
    452 views
    Thumbnail for Mario evades the IRS | Solid jj0:49
    Mario evades the IRS | Solid jj
    invidious
    446 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
philosophy
,
nuclear power
,
life expectancy
,
post truth
,
humanism
,
postmodernism
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle