Enlightenment Now

The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Paperback, 576 pages

English language

ISBN:
978-0-525-42757-5
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(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 …

2 editions

Triomphe des lumières ou apologie du néolibéralisme ?

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/

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

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 …

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