The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes (Penguin UK / Allen Lane, 2011 ebook)

Steven Pinker · c. 2011

Steven Pinker did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Violence has declined over long stretches of time, and this may be the most peaceable era in our species' existence

Their wordsBelieve it or not—and I know that most people do not—violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species' existence.

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Our reading
To explain the decline of violence, find what changed to give our peaceable motives the upper hand

Their wordsThe way to explain the decline of violence is to identify the changes in our cultural and material milieu that have given our peaceable motives the upper hand.

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Our reading
The world has too much morality: more people are killed in the name of morality than for gain

Their wordsThe world has far too much morality. If you added up all the homicides committed in pursuit of self-help justice, the casualties of religious and revolutionary wars, the people executed for victimless crimes and misdemeanors, and the targets of ideological genocides, they would surely outnumber the fatalities from amoral predation and conquest.

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Our reading
Deterrence is the most obvious way out of a Hobbesian trap

Their wordsHow can intelligent agents extricate themselves from a Hobbesian trap? The most obvious way is through a policy of deterrence: Don't strike first; be strong enough to survive a first strike; and retaliate against any aggressor in kind.

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