Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Steven Pinker, Decision-Making, Arab Spring
12 Feb 2019
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Steven pinker"s thesis is that our time is less violent, less cruel, than any other time in history- globally, in our neighbourhoods, and in our families. War is declining- since 1960 war deaths have declined million to 30 thousand a year. This is thought to be partially due to the fact that democracy tend not to fight each other, and it is at this point in time that many of the world"s powers have democratic systems. In ancient history, you had a 15% chance of dying by violence. 3% in the 18th century, and is fractional today. The last 70 years have been called the long peace due to the fact that no major powers have been in direct conflict during this time. Liberation ) and the moral development of human beings- the rise of empathy, of common ground, of they"re not so different from me, they too can suffer .
