The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language

by Steven Pinker

First, the human brain works however it works. Wishing for it to work in some way as a shortcut to justifying some ethical principle undermines both the science and the ethics

Finally, radical empiricism is not necessarily a progressive, humanitarian doctrine. A blank slate is a dictator’s dream. Some psychology textbooks mention the “fact” that Spartan and samurai mothers smiled upon hearing that their sons fell in battle. Since history is written by generals, not mothers, we can dismiss this incredible claim, but it is clear what purposes it must have served.