The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constitution.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the relationship between human nature and political systems throughout history.
In this quote, Steven Pinker reflects on how his insights about human nature and political systems are rooted in historical debates from the Enlightenment and the foundational discussions that led to the American Constitution. It suggests that current political discourse and understanding can be traced back to earlier philosophical discussions, linking the evolution of political thought to fundamental aspects of human behavior and society.
In practice
During a lecture on political theory, one could use this quote to highlight the historical context of contemporary ideologies.
The foundation of individual rights is the assumption that people have wants and needs and are authorities on what those wants and needs are. If people's stated desires were just some kind of erasable inscription or reprogrammable brainwashing, any atrocity could be justified.
The linguistic clumsiness of tourists and students might be the price we pay for the linguistic genius we displayed as babies, just as the decrepitude of age in the price we pay for the vigor of youth.
If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values away from claims about our psychological makeup that are vulnerable to being proven false.
We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be left more vulnerable, other that laziness or callousness in considering what life is like from their point of view.
The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child's peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.
Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it, or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you've already lost the argument, because you're using reason to make your case. ... We don't "believe" in reason.
The essence of Buddhism is if you can, help others. If not, then at least refrain from hurting others.
Each soul is a star and all stars are set in the infinite azure, the eternal sky-the Lord.
The Gods give with one hand and take with the other.
To every object there correspond an ideally closed system of truths that are true of it and, on the other hand, an ideal system of possible cognitive processes by virtue of which the object and the truths about it would be given to any cognitive subject.
If this is the way Queen Victoria treats her prisoners, she doesn't deserve to have any.
How prone all human institutions have been to decay; how subject the best-formed and most wisely organized governments have been to lose their check and totally dissolve; how difficult it has been for mankind, in all ages and countries, to preserve their dearest rights and best privileges, impelled as it were by an irresistible fate of despotism.
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