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Pinker's stuff often follows the old 18th-century Whig history pattern.
by _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
Pinker's stuff often follows the old 18th-century Whig history pattern.
- pas 8y agoThis sounds interesting but I know nothing about 18th century, Whigs (other than they are/were the Torys counterpart[y]), or history patterns. Could you explain this, maybe give examples of what Pinker said/wrote and why that follows this? Thank you in advance!
- _emacsomancer_ 8y agoThe Wikipedia entry for "Whig history" is fairly informative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_history. Essentially, a view of history that everything represents a progression towards something better. It's also tied up with the rise of mercantilism (i.e. merchantocracy) of the 17th and 18th centuries. (It's also associated with Liberalism, in the classical sense of the term.)