October 26 2007 - A discussion on Point of Inquiry - Pinker explores what our use of language can tell us about human nature. He discusses our use of metaphors, and what concepts may be innate, how the “language of thought” may be hard-wired in our brains. He also explains how to avoid the pitfalls of such hard-wiring, using the methods of science as the model.
Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
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Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought
Possibly related…
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IOT: The Scientific Method 26 Jan 12
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the evolution of the Scientific Method, the systematic and analytical approach to scientific thought. It became a topic of intense debate in the 17th century, and thinkers including Isaac Newton, Thomas Huxley and Karl Popper all made important contributions. Some of the greatest discoveries of the modern age were informed by their work, although even today the term ‘scientific method’ remains difficult to define. Melvyn Bragg is joined by Simon Schaffer, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge; John Worrall, Professor of the Philosophy of Science at the LSE and Michela Massimi, Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Science at University College London.
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The Stuff of Thought: Language as a window into human nature
With Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.
Chair: Matthew Taylor, chief executive, RSA
For Steven Pinker, the brilliance of the mind lies in the way it uses just two processes to turn the finite building blocks of our language into infinite meanings. The first is metaphor: we take a concrete idea and use it as a stand-in for abstract thoughts. The second is combination: we combine ideas according to rules, like the syntactic rules of language, to create new thoughts out of old ones.
How can a choice of metaphors start a war, impeach a president, or win an election? How does a mind that evolved to think about rocks and plants and enemies think about love and physics and democracy? How do we control the amount of information that we absorb? And what good does this actually do us?
Join Steven Pinker as he tries to answer these questions and many more, unlocking the hidden workings of our thoughts, our emotions and our social relationships and showing us that language really can tell us unexpected and fascinating things about ourselves.
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Can Science Shape Human Values? And Should It? : NPR
Ira Flatow talks with scientists and philosophers about the origins of human values, and the influence of modern scientific thought on human values. Even if science can shape human morals, should it? Or does science bring its own set of preconceptions and prejudices to moral questions?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131099083