Steven Pinker Quotes

If [t]he Mind Is A System With Many Parts, Then An Innate Desire Is Just One Component Among Others. Some Faculties May Endow Us With Greed Or Lust Or Malice, But Others May Endow Us With Sympathy, Foresight, Selfrespect, A Desire For Respect From Others, And An Ability To Learn From Our Own Experiences And Those Of Our Neighbors. These Are Physical Circuits Residing In The Prefrontal Cortex And Other Parts Of The Brain, Not Occult Powers Of A Poltergeist, And They Have A Genetic Basis And An Evolutionary History No Less Than The Primal Urges. It Is Only The Blank Slate And The Ghost In The Machine That Make People Think That Drives Are "biological" But That Thinking And Decision Making Are Something Else.

Related Authors

• Andrew Cartmel
• Arnold Harberger
• Deborah Lipstadt
• Edward E. Baptist
• Ehren Watada
• G.L. Chapple
• Henry Travers
• Howard Love
• Jessie Burton
• Joshuah Buckle
• Pew Report
• Sophie Blackall

Related Topics

• Quotes About Food Waste

  I think food is the great equalizer. Other than the ocean and the air, food is the thing that we all share in common. I think along with that comes — Brett Dennen

• Forever Isn't Long Enough Quotes

  I promise to love you forever," Teague said when he put her back on the ground. He reached down and kissed her knuckles. Mina smiled and spoke softly, "Forever isn't — Chanda Hahn

• Kick Me When I'm Down Quotes

  I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness. Oh, I've got it all sewn up. I can save — Garth Ennis

• Wine Barrel Quotes

  A ghost mill, they called it, infested with all sorts of witches, phantoms, and monsters. It was as though the very timbers of the mill had soaked up the unearthly — Helen Grant

• Younger Man Quotes

  All I desire is, that my poverty may not be a burden to myself, or make me so to others; and that is the best state of fortune that is — Seneca the Younger