Programme Details

On Night Waves tonight - in an extended conversation Philip Dodd talks to Steven Pinker - the controversial pioneer of evolutionary psychology, and acclaimed author of How the Mind Works and The Blank Slate.

In a special, extended interview, Pinker talks about the origins of his disillusion with the dreams of the Sixties in the Montreal police strike of 1969. He gives his view on the controversial remarks of Harvard President Lawrence Summers on innate gender difference. He reveals the writers who have influenced him most. And he explains why - despite his professed 'tragic' view of a humanity limited by our genetic inheritance- he remains optimistic about our capacity to make our lives progressively better.


That's Steven Pinker on Night Waves at 9.30pm on Radio 3.



Presenter: Philip Dodd
Producer: Phil Tinline




Additional Information:
The Blank Slate : The Modern Denial of Human Nature and How the Minds Works
by Steven Pinker are published by Penguin Press.