As the sciences and the humanities become more at odds with each other, people have lost sight of the facts. Pinker claims that by taking a skeptical approach to Enlightenment values, liberal journalists and left-leaning professors have exacerbated the divide between these two spheres. Snow established the classical idea that there are two worlds: the sciences and the humanities. People across the globe live longer, suffer from fewer diseases, receive better education, live in more peaceful communities, earn more money, and lead happier lives.Įnlightenment Now explains that the humanities as they are taught in academia tend to focus on problems, challenges, and things that have gone wrong, perpetuating a risky catastrophism and vicious cycle of negative thinking. Pinker provides copious amounts of data to support his thesis that progress has been made in every facet of humanity. While he paints a rose-colored picture of humanity right now, he also explains the media biases that cause most people to feel much worse about human progress than they ought to feel.Ĭontrary to the doom and gloom vision that your Twitter feed might like you to subscribe to (after all, a negative headline or critical review always gets more likes/retweets than a positive one), human life is actually getting better. Through the lens of Pinkerâ€™s optimistic philosophy, Enlightenment Now expands on his seminal book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and creates a cohesive overview of the liberal Enlightenment values that are currently under attack from both extremes of the political spectrum.

Itâ€™s a sort of balm from the recent surge in authoritarian populism and the general hopelessness that stems from it. In an age of increasingly pessimistic and bleak world views, Steven Pinkerâ€™s new book, Enlightenment Now, couldnâ€™t come at a better time.

Robert Rosenkranzâ€™sÂ Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker

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