Abstract

Paper examines Steven Pinker’s thesis that we have become ‘better angels’ throughout the course of Western history. Pinker’s markers for this improvement are secularity, science, cosmopolitanism, feminization and rational legal norms. Author argues that while some of Pinker’s theses are convincing – notably those dealing with torture, hygiene, and literacy – we have good reason to be skeptical of Pinker’s claim that we human beings are less violent than we once were. Much of Pinker’s argument rests upon the scientific and technological conquests of the post-Enlightenment in the West. There may be less hope that human beings have truly mastered the ‘dark sides’ of our natures when we assess just how dependent we are upon the technological management of crises, and further, how our confidence in our superiority in the ‘civilized’ world may depend upon the continuing subordination and domination of large parts of less fortunate humanity.