Summary:

Steven Pinker argues that despite the rampant pessimism about the state of the world today, the facts prove that we are on a significant path upward.


If you follow the news, the 21st century doesn't seem to be going so well. From 9/11 to the Great Recession, the Syrian civil war, the Ebola epidemic, growing inequality, racial unrest, and bitterly contested elections, the world seems to be sinking into chaos and hatred. Moralizing commentators tell us that the decline of religious belief and close-knit communities has left us spiritually adrift, without a grounding in moral values, so it's no wonder we're suffering through an epidemic of loneliness, unhappiness, and suicide. And then there are the futurologists who speculate on what will finish us off first: resource wars, nuclear annihilation, unstoppable climate change, or robots that steal our jobs, enslave us, and turn us into raw materials.

But, as Steven Pinker argues in this landmark new book, we do not truly inhabit a dystopia of deprivation and violence: in fact, every global measure of human flourishing is on the rise. We're living longer, healthier, safer, and more affluent lives-not just in the West, but worldwide. Why?

In Enlightenment Now, Pinker proposes that human progress is the gift of a coherent value system that many of us embrace without even knowing it. The values of the Enlightenment underlie all our modern institutions, and deserve credit for the stupendous progress we have made. The progress we have enjoyed is not, of course, an excuse for complacency: some of the challenges we face today are unprecedented in their complexity and scope.

The way to deal with these challenges, Pinker argues, is to treat them as problems to solve, as we have solved other problems in our past. Putting the case for an Enlightenment newly recharged for the 21st century, Pinker shows how, by using our faculties of reason and sympathy to understand the world and to enhance human flourishing, we can tackle problems that inevitably come with being products of evolution in an entropic universe.

Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Part i : Enlightenment
Chapter 1.Dare to Understandi
Chapter 2. Entro, EVO, Info
Chapter 3. Counter-Englightenments

Part II : Progress
Chapter 4. Progressophobia
Chapter 5. Life
Chapter 6. Health
Chapter 7. Sustenance
Chapter 8. Wealth
Chapter 9. Inequality
Chapter 10.The environment
Chapter 11. Peace
Chapter 12. Safety
Chapter 13. Terrorism
Chapter 14. Democracy
Chapter 15. Equal Rights
Chapter 16. Knowledge
Chapter 17. Quality of Life
Chapter 18. Happiness
Chapter 19. Existential Threats
Chapter 20. The Future of Progress

Part III : Reason, Science, and Humanism
Chapter 21. Reason
Chapter 22. Science
Chapter 23. Humanism