Here I will illustrate why denying it undermines that project by relaying some observations I recently made while reading some of Pinker’s earlier work. But of these three, I will argue that one is a natural fact indispensable to the Enlightenment project: freedom of the will. Pinker has a growing audience among secular, scientifically-minded people who are skeptical about all forms of the supernatural, whether a belief in God, freedom of the will, or immortality (to use Kant’s famous triad). However, I think that his project of promoting Enlightenment values (as described in the preface and in several of his recent pieces) has at least one Achilles heel. In the preface, he promises to show how Enlightenment values of reason, science, humanism, and progress are “stirring, inspiring, noble” and “offer a reason to live.” Stated in the abstract, at least, these are values I stand for, and so I’ve begun reading Enlightenment Now with great interest, and will have more to say about it in future writing. The title of Steven Pinker’s new book is a bold proclamation: Enlightenment Now. Occasionally we write about what we’re currently reading, watching or listening to-not at the level of a full review, but simply to point out arguments, perspectives and issues worth considering.
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