The Blank Slate
Pinker says that the blank slate view of human nature would actually be more of a threat if it were true. For example, he argues that political equality does not require similarity, but policies that treat people as individuals with rights; that moral progress doesn't need the human mind to be naturally free of selfish actions, only morals to counteract them are needed; that responsibility doesn't need behavior to be uncaused, only that it answers to praise and blame; and that meaning in life doesn't. the process that created the brain must have a purpose, only that the brain itself must have purposes. He also argues that grounding ideals in claims about a blank slate opens them to the possibility of being overturned by future discoveries. He further states that a blank slate is in fact not in-sequence with opposition to many social evils since a blank slate could be conditioned to enjoy slavery.