Goodreads: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker (checkpoint 2)

Audiobook: 1hr 38mins \ 22hrs 42mins.

This covered chapter 2. Pinker discussed the origins and development of the blank slate theory. It seemed to have primarily come into existence at the hand of John Locke in an attempt to counter the religious and political claims of his day, namely that we are innately born to be, for example, a king with God given kingship, that we have an innate moral code, etc.

The blank slate remained a thriving idea through at least the mid 20th century, especially pronounced by arguably one of the most important psychologists of that time period, B.F. Skinner. This was the era of the Behaviorists who proclaimed that no genetic makeup, nor race, sex, etc. could limit the outcomes of ones life in regards to their behavior and achievements. Everyone could be built from the ground up since they were thought to all begin at the same marker, that is, nothing, the blank slate.


New models of parenting and the likes were built into culture since the most important part according to this theory is the development of the child in relation to his or her environments and experiences. Therefore, as long as the parents did their part, their child would have a good chance to be successful, and if the child failed, well it was because the parents failed in someway since heredity had no part in a child's behavior.