Steven Pinker, a distinguished Canadian-American scientist specializing in experimental psychology and the cognitive sciences, examines human thinking from the perspective of evolutionary psychology and computational theory of consciousness.
What makes us rational? What makes us irrational? What makes us angry, happy, disgusted, attracted, inspired? Brain as computer or computer as brain? Morality, religion, reason-how does a person figure these things out? The author offers answers to these and many other questions about how our thinking works, illustrating them with scientific experiments, philosophical problems, and examples from everyday life.
The book is written in an easy and accessible form and is intended for psychologists, anthropologists, specialists in artificial intelligence, as well as anyone interested in these sciences.