Dr. Pinker discussed how the doctrine of the Blank Slate -- that humans are born without talents or temperaments and acquire their minds through culture and socialization -- has become a strongly-held belief in intellectual life, and scientific challenges to it have been seen as heretical. Dr. Pinker argued that these fears are based on fallacies. Scientific discoveries about the genetic, evolutionary, and neurobiological bases of the mind do not, in fact, threaten central values, but rather can strengthen them. Once empirical discoveries on how the mind works are distinguished from moral and political issues, we can have both an honest science of human nature and values such as individual responsibility and political equity. Listen to an audio file of the lecture. | 
