By: Mary Mims on February 29, 2020
From the beginning of time, people have been obsessed with having a variety of traits like other people. We want to be as intelligent, as beautiful, or sophisticated as our neighbors. One of the eye makeup commercials featured a woman with a full, luscious set of black eyelashes, using the tagline: Maybe she’s born with…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on February 29, 2020
Having gone to Western Michigan University during my bachelor’s program and graduating with a minor in Psychology, I thought I owned the world. Our Psych program was based on BF Skinner, who was a behavioral psychologist and I became the best student in my class at teaching rats to drink from a straw utilizing the…
By: Wallace Kamau on February 28, 2020
When I think of human bahaviour, there are many questions that come to mind but one stands out that Pinker’s book, The Blank Slate[1] made me to explore more. Why is it that, for the most part, People use an excuse for not performing as expected or blame a scapegoat when things go wrong? Human…
By: Sean Dean on February 28, 2020
Watching a person that has perfect or absolute pitch (AP) is like watching a magician making things seemingly appear out of thin air. There’s a bit of beauty to it and a bit of bravado as they pick notes off as if they are old friends. It is typically thought that the ability to remember…
By: Digby Wilkinson on February 28, 2020
Another fun book by Steven Pinker this week. The Blank Slate is another volume that attacks certain modern assumptions about the nature of individual human beings.[1] In education and social anthropology, modern prevailing views are based on the expanded work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Dryden[2] and more recently by Margaret Mead.[3] Rousseau was responsible for the…
By: Jenn Burnett on February 28, 2020
The nature versus nurture debate has taken many forms and been informed by many disciplines over the years. The political implications of this discussion have both increased the importance and the risks associated with it. Race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, intelligence have all been among key contentious topics. Interestingly, the most controversial topics of Pinker’s…
By: Karen Rouggly on February 27, 2020
Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature and many other works, is a Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.[1] Pinker is fascinated with the mind and visual cognition and language play a significant role in our human development. In The Blank Slate, Pinker…
By: Andrea Lathrop on February 27, 2020
My sense of Pinker, now having spent part of two weeks of my life with him, is that he is quite interesting and maddening. I imagine most do not view him neutrally and either love or hate him. As soon I am apt to describe him as cold, he offers something that smacks of warmth.…
By: Harry Edwards on February 27, 2020
Steven Pinker in The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature argues that the popular idea that human beings are born sans innate properties is fallacious. Related concepts such as the Noble Savage and Ghost in the Machine fall under the same misunderstood categories that must be corrected. Pinker offers at least three reasons…
By: John Muhanji on February 27, 2020
The word” Enlightenment” brings with it both positive and negative memories to various communities of the world. It also does the same to the African communities, which still haunts them to date. Africa was a peaceful continent, and people were living in peace in their cultural communities until the enlightenment came up and the need…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on February 27, 2020
Needless to say, my hope is that every single member of our cohort finishes their dissertation, graduates with honors, earns the highly coveted title “Doctor of Ministry” and then is able to achieve all our hopes and dreams in large part because of the what we have learned together in the Leadership and Global Perspectives…
By: Shawn Cramer on February 27, 2020
Innovation excels with diversity of thought, skills, and importance. As I consider the future of the US and the complex (“wicked”) problems facing it, I see a desperation for creative and innovative solutions, yet an apathy for “reaching across the aisle” in faith and politics. No one side has the worldview, resources, or perspective to…
By: Rhonda Davis on February 27, 2020
Pinker, former director of MIT’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, writes about the hot button topic of gender differences in his book, Blank Slate. He begins the discussion with an explanation of the two schools of feminist thought: Equity feminism is part of the classical liberal tradition and opposes sexual discrimination and unfairness to women.[1] Gender…
By: Jer Swigart on February 27, 2020
Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of my dad’s passing. It was a sacred, impossible, hilarious, formational eight-month journey of liver cancer. I was privileged to accompany him all the way to the river then watched as he took the most difficult step that we take in life’s journey: from this life to the life beyond.…
By: Tammy Dunahoo on February 27, 2020
When she opened the door and opened her arms to me there was a strange complexity of emotion. I suddenly became the infant she never held, angry that she didn’t, but now wanted her to. The violent storm raging inside was unnoticeable on the outside as I walked calmly into her home. We stood in…
By: Greg Reich on February 26, 2020
As a parent we learn early on that seeking perfection is overrated and the realization that imperfection can be a huge blessing. As a father of four I am so very thankful for each of my children. I am a nostalgic old codger at times and like many parents I have many keepsakes and memories…
By: John Muhanji on February 26, 2020
…. sorry for the late posting!! Peterson brings out an argument that is challenging from all levels of life. It is challenging from both intellectual and non-intellectual perspectives. Peterson offers a critical guide to the riches of archaic and modern thoughts, that is constructing meaning in a way that is compliant with the modern science…
By: Darcy Hansen on February 24, 2020
On September 5, 1918 in Game 1 of the World Series the Boston Red Socks were playing the Chicago Cubs. Tensions ran high in a nation where 100,000 soldiers already died during the US involvement in WWI. A heaviness was palatable at this lower-than-usual attendance game. In an effort to lift the spirits of all…
By: Steve Wingate on February 24, 2020
Haidt wrote that learning is hard work but primarily comes through experience. “This book is about why it’s so hard for us to get along. We are indeed all stuck here for a while, so let’s at least do what we can to understand why we are so easily divided into hostile groups, each one…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on February 24, 2020
As I write this paper on Pinker this morning, I reflect on the day ahead. I will be serving as guest minister at the Paw Paw Presbyterian Church today (thank you for this opportunity, Jacob!), babysitting my beautiful grandmunchkins this afternoon, and dinner plans this evening. So, my heart and mind are conflicted at this…
