Canadian - Scientist | September 18, 1954 -
I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.
Steven Pinker
LifeMomentPurposeGiftNothing
America had, for one thing, lived in anarchy for - until much more recently than Europe. We had the Wild West, where the cliche of the cowboy movies was the nearest sheriff is 90 miles away, and so you had to pack a gun and defend yourself.
YourselfGunAmericaYouMovies
I think it may not be a coincidence that the rise of printing and book publication and literacy and the phenomenon of best sellers all preceded the humanitarian reforms of the Enlightenment.
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If you aren't just brought up in your tribe but interact with other people either directly or vicariously, through journalism and literature, you see what life is like from other points of view and are less likely to demonize them or dehumanize others and more likely to empathize with them.
LifePeopleViewLiteratureYouSee
People have long assumed that violence is necessary for political change. Rulers never cede power voluntarily, the argument goes, so progressives have no choice but to contemplate the use of force to bring about a better world, mindful of the trade-off between a small amount of violence now and acceptance of an unjust status quo indefinitely.
ChangePowerAcceptancePeopleWorld
Racism, because it favors color over talent, is bad for business.
BusinessRacismTalentColorBad
I get drawn in when I feel there is something deep and mysterious going on beneath the surface of something.
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Anything that makes it easier to imagine trading places with someone else increases your moral consideration for that other person.
SomeonePersonMoralPlacesAnything
Equity feminism is a moral doctrine about equal treatment that makes no commitments regarding open empirical issues in psychology or biology.
BiologyMoralEquityOpenPsychology
My opinions about human nature are shared by many psychologists, linguists, and biologists, not to mention philosophers and scholars going back centuries.
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I think a lot of moral debates are not over what is the basis of justice, but who gets a ticket to play in the game.
JusticeGameThinkPlayMoralOver
Broadly speaking, the Southern and Western desert and mountain states will vote for the candidate who endorses an aggressive military, a role for religion in public life, laissez-faire economic policies, private ownership of guns and relaxed conditions for using them, less regulation and taxation, and a valorization of the traditional family.
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