| Edition |
Large print edition. |
| Description |
835 pages (large print) : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Physical Medium |
large print (16 point) rda |
| Series |
Thorndike Press Large Print Popular and Narrative Nonfiction |
|
Thorndike Press large print popular and narrative nonfiction.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [707]-831). |
| Summary |
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data. In seventy-five graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature -- tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking -- which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation. Pinker makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress. |
| Contents |
Dare to understand! -- Entro, evo, info -- Counter-enlightenments -- Progressophobia -- Life -- Health -- Sustenance -- Wealth -- Inequality -- The environment -- Peace -- Safety -- Terrorism -- Democracy -- Equal rights -- Knowledge -- Quality of life -- Happiness -- Existential threats -- The future of progress -- Reason -- Science -- Humanism. |
| Subject |
Humanism.
|
|
Quality of life.
|
|
Social change.
|
|
Progress.
|
|
Reason.
|
|
Civilization, Modern -- 21st century.
|
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Quality of Life.
|
|
Civilization, Modern. (OCoLC)fst00863073
|
|
Humanism. (OCoLC)fst00963520
|
|
Large type books. (OCoLC)fst00992678
|
|
Progress. (OCoLC)fst01078723
|
|
Quality of life. (OCoLC)fst01085009
|
|
Social change. (OCoLC)fst01122310
|
|
Large type books.
|
| Chronological Term |
2000-2099
|
| Genre/Form |
Nonfiction.
|
| Added Title |
Case for reason, science, humanism, and progress |
| ISBN |
9781432853167 (hardcover ; large print) |
|
1432853163 (hardcover ; large print) |
|
