Steven PinkerChapter 16: Politics

Chapter 17: Violence Greta Kent-Stoll

Brooke Porter

Chapter 16: Politics

Intellectual conceptions of human nature lead to political ideologies ranging from right to left How is society conceptualized?

Social Contract Individuals agree to sacrifice autonomy in exchange for

security. (The biological equivalent is reciprocal altruism)

Sociological ViewPeople are social by nature, and they function as parts

of a superorganism

The association between political ideology of either right and left AND these two conceptions of society is loose

The clustering of beliefs into either liberal or conservative: what is the underlying reason?

Liberal vs. Conservative

LiberalCan be associated with the Utopian Vision

Utopian Vision: Our limitations come from social arrangements

We do not have an inherent nature (Blank Slate)

ConservativeCan be associated with the Tragic Vision

Tragic Vision: humans are limited and selfishTraditions last because they allow us to work around the flaws

that are part of our nature

Different political beliefs result from two visions Two examples:

Economy Violence

The Problem with the Utopian Vision

Scientific evidence for an inherent human nature

Historical evidence for an inherent human nature

The U.S. Constitution concurs with the Tragic Vision

Checks and balances in government Measures to protect the people from corrupt rulers Protecting the rights of the individual (and his desire to

get ahead)

Democracy is not perfect, but it is the best proven government system thus far Freedom as well as security Famines rare Wars against other democratic nations rare

The Tragic Vision can coexist with various political views from right to left

Bowler and Gintis People are neither “antlike altruists nor self-centered

misers” (Pinker, 2002). Robert Frank

People tend to spend their money like “drunken sailors” We would benefit from high consumption tax

Chomsky Inborn language faculty: propensity to communicate Natural desire for community and the drive for creative

expression

Politics can (and should) change as our conceptions of human nature become increasingly sophisticated

Strengths of Chapter 16

The separation between political right and left There is an obvious clustering when it comes to

the diverging views of liberals and conservatives

Variations of political association and ideology can exist

Strengths of Chapter 16

Selfishness and the desire for self-preservation are inherent components of our human nature Evidence exists to suggest that the desire for

community and a degree of communication and cooperation is a part of our nature

Our politics are capable of changing as we become more advanced in our conceptions of human nature

Weaknesses of Chapter 16

Is there a true “clustering” of beliefs on either end of the spectrum?

Do the political views possess a degree of logical cohesion after all? Liberal views on sex and a desire to create economic equality

Is Pinker accurate in explaining the political polarization by an underlying alliance to either the Tragic or Utopian Vision?

Chapter 17: Violence

“The story of the human race is war. Except for brief and precarious interludes there has never been peace in the world; and long before history began murderous strife was universal and unending.”

– Winston Churchill

Historic Evidence of Human Violence

Skeletons with scalping marks, ax-shaped dents, and arrowheads embedded in them

Weapons like tomahawks and maces that are useless for hunting but specialized for homicide

Paintings from several continents showing men firing arrows, spears, and boomerangs at each other

Cannibalism: human bones ground up and used for food, myoglobin found on pot shards and in human excrement

More Historic Evidence

Not just war: ethnic strife, turf battles, blood feuds, individual homicides

History indicts our species: the crucifixion of Jesus

Words in our vocabulary: to crucify, to draw and quarter, to flay, to press, to stone, the garrote, the rack, the stake, the thumbscrew.

Theories of Violence: Learned

Learned, SocialViolence has nothing to do with human nature

but is a pathology inflicted by malign elements outside of us

Violence is a behavior taught by culture Right-thinking people: “violence is learned

behavior” Childhood abuse: people who have been

victimized often become victimizers themselves

Many say American Culture is the cause

• Journalist Alfie Kohn attributed the Oklahoma City bombing to American Individualism: “We have a cultural addiction to competition in this country. We’re taught in classrooms and playing fields that other people are obstacles to our own success” (pp. 309).

• Another explanation of the bombing put the blame on American symbols: national seal, state mottoes.

• New Hampshire: “Live Free or

Die”

• Massachusetts: “With the sword, we seek peace, but under liberty”

The American Conception of Maleness

Boys are forced to separate from their mothers and stifle their emotions

“Violent behavior, emotional distance, and higher rates of drug addiction can’t be explained by hormones…the problem, experts say, is cultural beliefs about masculinity-everything packed into the phrase ‘a real man’”(pp.309).

“Violence is learned behavior”

Not based on any sound research

Aggressive parents often have aggressive children: These tendencies may not be just learned, but inherent as well

Guns make it easier for people to kill: Maine and North Dakota have the lowest homicide rates, but almost every home has a gun

Some opposing views on media violence

• Media violence – glorified violence and murder

• Violent children seek out violent entertainment; children are aroused by action-packed footage

• American media and media violence is a major cause of American violent crime

• Investigation: 200 studies looked for a connection between media violence and violent behavior, and more than half failed to find one.

• Exposure to media violence has little or no effect on violent behavior in the world

• Canadians watch the same television shows as Americans but have a fourth of their homicide rate

Theories of Violence: Biological

Evidence that we may have evolved mechanisms for discretionary violence Large size, strength, and upper-body mass of men is a

zoological giveaway of an evolutionary history of violent male-male competition

The effects of testosterone on dominance and violence The emotion of anger Fight-or-flight response Disruptions of inhibitory systems of the brain can lead

to aggressive attacks Boys play rough and tumble

Pinker thinks…

“…we will never understand violence by looking only at the genes or brains of violent people. Violence is a social and political problem, not just a biological and psychological one” (pp. 317).

Two fears people have

Examining the roots of violence in human nature consists of reducing violence to the bad genes of violent individuals Ethnic groups with higher rates of violence

If people are endowed with violent motives, they can’t help but being violent, or must be violent all the time

Understanding Violence: The 3 Principle Causes of Quarrel

CompetitionDiffidence GloryHobbes’s analysis shows that violence is

not a primitive, irrational urge¸ nor is it a pathology . It is a near-inevitable outcome of the dynamics of self interested, rational social organisms.

Understanding the Hobbesian Trap

The problem with violence is that the advantage of deploying it or renouncing it depend on what the other side does

Game Theory: the best decision for each player individually is sometimes the worst decision for both collectively

Means of Preventing Violence: Conflict Resolution

Submitting to the rules of the lawFiguring out a way for both sides to back

down without losing faceAcknowledging the possibility of one’s

own self-deceptionAccepting the equivalence of one’s own

interest and other people’s

Advances in human conflict resolution depend on the ability to be rational, and to realize that the mind is a combinatorial, recursive system: we have thoughts, thought about our thoughts, and thoughts about our thoughts about out thoughts.

Acknowledgement of this unfortunately may be accepting violence or even approving of it.

Strengths of Chapter 17

Strong arguments against the “usual suspects” Guns, discrimination, poverty

Pinker’s agreement with the “radical scientists”

Use of contemporary examples to easier relay his ideas

Weaknesses of Chapter 17

More strengths than weaknesses in this chapter

Flowery language tends to muddle his message

Slightly unorganized

! We’re finally finished!

! Thanks for your participation!

! THE END!