史蒂芬·平克 | 人性与白板
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《理论语言学五道口站》（2020年第39期，总第103期）专家专题与大家分享哈佛大学约翰斯顿心理学教授，著名实验认知心理学家、心理语言学家史蒂芬·平克关于人性的探讨。本期视频“人性与白板”，史蒂芬·平克教授从常识、人类共性、遗传学及神经科学等角度论证了人类生来并非白板的观点。
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系列专家专题之
史蒂芬·平克
01
专家简介
史蒂芬·平克，现任哈佛大学约翰斯顿心理学教授，是著名的实验认知心理学家、心理语言学家，在语言、思维和人的本质的研究和科普写作方面成果丰硕，享有盛名。他是《美国传统词典》用法编委会主席，经常为《纽约时报》、《时代》周刊等其他出版物撰稿。曾被评为“年度人文主义者”、《外交政策》杂志 “全球100位思想家”和《时代》杂志“当代最具影响力100人”。代表作有《语言本能》、《心智探奇》、《白板》、《人性中的善良天使》、《风格的要素》等。
主要研究方向：语言；沟通和常识；暴力历史和暴力心理。
Steven Pinker is an experimental cognitive psychologist and a popular writer on language, mind, and human nature. He is now a Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. He is Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and often writes for The New York Times, Time, and other publications. He has been named “Humanist of the Year”, Foreign Policy’s “100 Global Thinkers,” and Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.”
His books: The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and The Sense of Style, etc.
Research Interests: Language; communication and common knowledge; history and psychology of violence.
02
人性与白板
最后，让我用一句话来结束我的发言，回到“选择”这个主题。我认为人性的科学——行为遗传学、进化心理学、神经科学、认知科学——将在未来的岁月里，日益动摇各种教条、职业和根深蒂固的政治信仰体系。这时，我们将会面临着一个“选择”：关于人类的某些事实或议题，是否应被视为禁忌，因其毫无益处我们不该去讨论，或者我们应该诚实地去探索它们。对于这个问题，我有自己的答案，这个答案来自19世纪一位伟大的艺术家——安东•契诃夫，他说：“只有使一个人看清自己，他才能进步。”我认为这个观点再清楚不过了。
So let me conclude with just a remark to bring it back to the theme of choices. I think the sciences of human nature -- behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science -- are going to increasingly in the years to come upset various dogmas, careers and deeply-held political belief systems. And that presents us with a choice, the choice of whether certain facts about humans or topics are to be considered taboos, forbidden knowledge where we shouldn’t go there because no good can come from them or to explore them honestly. I have my own answer to that question, which comes from a great artist of the nineteen century, Anton Chekhov who said: “Man will become better when you show him what he is like.” And I think the argument can’t be put any more eloquent with than that.
编辑：高洁
排版：高洁
审校：安镜儒