The main question is: "Why are empirical questions about how the
mind works so weighted down with political and moral and
emotional baggage? Why do people believe that there are
dangerous implications to the idea that the mind is a product of
the brain, that the brain is organized in part by the genome,
and that the genome was shaped by natural selection?" This idea
has been met with demonstrations, denunciations, picketings, and
comparisons to Nazism, both from the right and from the left.
And these reactions affect both the day-to-day conduct of
science and the public appreciation of the science. By exploring
the political and moral colorings of discoveries about what
makes uws tick, we can have a more honest science and a less
fearful intellectual milieu. A BIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN
NATURE: A TALK WITH STEVEN PINKER [9.9.02] Every few years a
book is published that commands our attention and causes us to
consider questions that challenge our basic assumptions about
ourselves. This month marks the p