Steven Pinker is a linguist and cognitive psychologist and, oddly enough for a colleague of Noam Chomskey, something of a conservative. His book, The Blank Slate, describes how most behavior is genetic in origin. This, of course, is anathema to the left which follows the behavioral theories of Stephen Jay Gould.
Pinker here gives a marvelous lecture on the history of violence and why it has been declining since The Enlightenment. Rousseau was wrong and those who believe in the myth of The Noble Savage should view this talk.
Tags: noble savage, steven pinker, violence
Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?