Miguel

“For those who need data to be convinced, in global surveys of values in which every variable that social scientists like to measure is thrown into the pot (including income, education, and dependence on oil revenues), Islam itself predicts an extra dose of patriarchal and other illiberal values across countries and individuals.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“John Dryden wrote that a work of fiction is “a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“What about a more abstract sense of “spirituality”? If it consists in gratitude for one’s existence, awe at the beauty and immensity of the universe, and humility before the frontiers of human understanding, then spirituality is indeed an experience that makes life worth living—and one that is lifted into higher dimensions by the revelations of science and philosophy.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“A “spirituality” that sees cosmic meaning in the whims of fortune is not wise but foolish. The first step toward wisdom is the realization that the laws of the universe don’t care about you. The next is the realization that this does not imply that life is meaningless, because people care about you, and vice versa.”
― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress