Enlightenment Now

The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

by Steven Pinker

Paperback, 576 pages

English language

ISBN:: 978-0-525-42757-5

(41 reviews)

If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science.

Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing.

Far from being a …

Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature–tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking–which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.

With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.

2 editions

Léo Varnet reviewed Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Triomphe des lumières ou apologie du néolibéralisme ?

1 star

Dans "Le Triomphe des Lumières", Steven Pinker défend une organisation néolibérale du monde sous couvert de rationalisme. Il y a une contradiction patente dans ce texte : Pinker se fait le défenseur de la raison tout en émaillant son discours d'approximations, d'erreurs et de déclarations péremptoires. Au travers de deux billets de blog, je me suis appliqué dans un premier temps à relever ces erreurs de raisonnement, avant de m'intéresser à l'idéologie sous-jacente. Mon but était ici de ne pas m'arrêter à la constatation de la faiblesse argumentative de Pinker, mais de souligner que ses thèses s'inscrivent en fait dans une longue lignée d'apologies du néolibéralisme, reprenant parfois leur discours mot pour mot. dbao.leo-varnet.fr/2019/08/26/triomphe-des-lumieres-ou-faillite-de-la-raison/ dbao.leo-varnet.fr/2020/05/05/triomphe-des-lumieres-ou-apologie-du-neoliberalisme/

Jonathan Zacsh reviewed Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Review of 'Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

Best thing I've read in the last few years, at least. Speaks to my worries, works through facts, and leaves me more inspired and hopeful than I can remember being in a long time. I can't recommend this book enough.

axleyjc reviewed Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Review of 'Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Writing style is very dense and academic. The information and data painted a picture of progress despite the sentiment otherwise.

axleyjc reviewed Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Review of 'Enlightenment Now' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Writing style is very dense and academic. The information and data painted a picture of progress despite the sentiment otherwise.

Libbum reviewed Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

Review of 'Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

I have very mixed feelings about this book, but ultimately must give it a 3 (perhaps 3.5) star review even though my enjoyment factor was relatively low throughout.

There is a lot of sketchy stuff in the early sections that is most likely taken out of context and perhaps even disingenuous half truths may be peppered around here. I read this book for enjoyment and interest sake, so I'll leave any deep criticism for someone doing a more scholarly review.

The good stuff comes in around 75% of the way through the book, and for those of you who have read Better Angels: a good deal of it is a re-hash welcomes you through this 3/4 of a book introduction. Updated information and new inferences, sure; but you're still required to slog through it all. Up until this point I was wondering if my thoughts about what is important concerning the intellectual endeavours and Pinker's had diverged. I mean Blank Slate to me was a tour de force, but pushing to get through Better Angels, and now this in similar fashion: perhaps Pinker has found his niche and frankly, it's just not mine.

The last section though, when he finally gets to the point of the book, makes up for a lot of your perseverance. Many of his arguments here are well thought out, require enough of the earlier discussions to keep things self contained and really do make the case for the books subtitle.

If you actually go and read Darwin's The Origin of Species, you'll find that you know absolutely everything you need to know about the book already through the wisdom of the commons. Most of us have no need to get into the nuances of pigeon breeding. I think, in that sense, Enlightenment Now is a book designed for the common era. Necessarily edited in such a manner that could really be seen as pushing the argument over and over from different viewpoints, to persuade the public in general that this is an idea we all need to get behind—exactly how Darwin arranged Origin. To that end, if Enlightenment ideals continue to thrive in the coming years, perhaps people of 2100 will read this book and think it is an awful tomb of self-evident drivel. This is the point at which we can mark a decisive victory for the books arguments.