The Better Angels of our Nature Summary (8/10)

*The Better Angels of our Nature *by Steven Pinker argues that violence has declined with time. He does this by discussing the threats of violence one by one, going through what the statistical data shows us.

Human malevolence is a constant threat to peace and prosperity, but while human beings do have an evil side, they also have a good side. People were much more cruel, torturous, blood thirsty, and violent centuries ago. Human sacrifice, vicious forms of entertainment, as well as public torture were a normal part of life. Sexism and racism are problems that still exist, but have vastly improved, and “honor” sports like dueling have become ridiculous artifacts of the past.

Pinker calls on us to imagine the past for what it really was, not a majestic time of beauty and art, but a horrific moment in history, where mankind was ignorant and brutal. Despite the contemporary issues we face, such as nuclear terrorism, cyberwars, biological and chemical warfare, there seems to be a general movement towards peace, and mutual prosperity. Countries today are less interested in plunging into costly wars, when they can engage in prosperous trade.

Of course, as Pinker admits, this argument was used before the two World Wars a century ago, and one must be cautious about their optimism. But the author does not claim that peace will last forever, or that potential for conflict has eroded, only that we have gone through many decades of peace, and have experienced a social transformation in the way we approach violence. We are far more empathetic than we once were, tolerant, and open to other ideas.

Pinker has not written this book to say, “it’s all over, we can now celebrate forever.” On the contrary, the point of the book is to show how easy it is for us to regress to violent conflict, if we do not guard reason and the boons of the Enlightenment with vigilance and caution.

It is not clear that prior to the Enlightenment, as Pinker insists, mankind was a brutish and primitive race. It is true that before the scientific revolution, man’s life was marked by ignorance towards most things, but our political and social values, as well as our literacy, can be attributed to events that unfolded long before the modern scientific method. What Pinker is right about, is that the printing press accelerated the progress of the human race like no other technology in history.

The democratization of information was an event that made it possible for human civilization to make substantial leaps in progress. And as Pinker mentions, the Islamic civilization, which was responsible for preserving Greek civilization, and inventing astronomy and spreading knowledge of algebra to the rest of the world, was only left behind because they refused to embrace the printing press for religious reasons.

Below are chapter summaries.

Chapter 1: A Foreign Country

Pinker starts with pointing a hypocrisy that exists across all religions, but in particular, Christianity. Modern day Christians pay lip service to the Bible as their moral guide, but their morality really comes from other sources.

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Chapter 2: The Pacification Process

In the Leviathan, Hobbes explains the logic of violence in a fewer than a hundred words (as good as any explanation you can find today).

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Chapter 3: The Civilizing Process

There are less homicides today among unrelated men. But there has not been as much decline in violence within families (women or kin).

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Chapter 4: The Humanitarian Revolution

A remarkable transformation in history happened in most of the world – capital punishment was abolished, and governments used less violence against its subjects. Slavery was outlawed and people lost their thirst for cruelty. This occurred between the 17th and 18th Centuries, beginning in the Age of Reason, and ending with the Enlightenment.

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Chapter 5: The Long Peace

If we assume that World War 2 was the most destructive event in history, it doesn’t tell us anything about the trends of in war and peace.

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Chapter 6: The New Peace

The Venezuelan politician Juan Pérez Alfonzo said, “Oil is the devil’s excrement.” A country can be cursed by natural resources because they concentrate power and wealth in the hands of whoever monopolizes them.

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Chapter 7: The Rights Revolution

Before the 19th century, the idea that animals should have rights was laughable. But throughout the century, movements that had their basis in humanitarianism and romanticism led to the protection of animals

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Chapter 8: Inner Demons

So far, Pinker has argued that the history of human beings has been shaped by violence. He has also noted that violence has declined. There is nothing about human nature that is exclusively violent or peaceful. The environment that we occupy, either through our own innovations or by sheer accident, is what determines our movement in either direction.

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Related posts:

1. Ch 1: A Foreign Country (The Better Angels of Our Nature)
2. Ch 3: The Civilizing Process (The Better Angels Of Our Nature)
3. Ch 2: The Pacification Process (The Better Angels of Our Nature)
4. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World Summary (9/10)