The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and its Causes
by Steven Pinker
Penguin (London 2012) pbk. 841 pages. £12.99
I am the Chairman of the Townswomen's Guild in a small Hampshire town. Our members are almost all devoted viewers of Crimewatch. If I were to tell them that they were living in the safest place in the safest time humanity has so far experienced, I would be met with total incredulity. But I know it's true because I've just finished Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature.
Steven Pinker is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. The book grew out of his answer to the question: 'What makes you optimistic?' In his own words, 'This book is about the most important thing that has ever happened in human history … violence has declined over long stretches of time and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species' existence.'
To demonstrate his thesis he identifies six trends: the Pacification and Civilising Processes, the Humanitarian Revolution, the Long and the New Peace, and the Rights Revolution; five inner demons: predation, dominance, revenge, sadism and ideology including religion; four better angels: empathy, self-control, morality and taboo and reason; and five historical forces: Leviathan, gentle commerce, feminisation, the expanding circle, the escalator of reason.
Pinker's case for the decline of all forms of violence is supported by more than 100 figures, mostly graphs. I have very limited knowledge of mathematics but I understood his explanation of the statistical methods. His writing in general is fluent and witty.
He relies for many of his statistics about war on The Conflict Catalog, developed and maintained by the political scientist, Peter Brecke, to amalgamate every scrap of information on armed conflict from the entire body of recorded history since 1400.
The first trend involves the establishment of a 'Leviathan', an authority capable of enforcing a monopoly of the use of violence. He quotes a Pacific Islander after the imposition of Australian Government that at least now you can go out to relieve yourself in the morning without fear of being attacked while you do it. Pinker disputes any notion of prehistoric peace, pointing out that almost every prehistoric skeleton we have recovered including the Alpine Iceman show the marks of horrific violence.
Pinker is clear that none of these processes he identified happened because humans just got better. Extraneous forces were always involved. Some he identifies are surprising; commerce and popular novels expand sympathy; membership of a multi-national institution like the EU helps maintain peace. If you want to trade successfully you have to understand your customers.
Pinker introduces his readers to Norbert Elias, 'the most important thinker you've never heard of', whose book, The Civilising Process, describes the increase in self-control in modern times; and to Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who fled to Nagasaki after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He survived the nuclear attack on Nagasaki as well and lived to be 93. Yamaguchi's view was that the only people who should be allowed to rule nuclear weapon states were nursing mothers.
Religion, an example of an ideology, appears as an 'inner demon'. It has only a modest role as a 'better angel'. Pinker disputes Christopher Hitchens' contention that religion poisons everything but only because particular religious movements – the Quakers – and people – Desmond Tutu – have occasionally been on the side of the angels. Pinker comments in a discussion of the Old Testament that the only branch of Judaism that still accepts human sacrifice is Christianity!
Other scholars who have noticed 'the sheer abundance' of declines in violence have been inclined to invoke 'a higher power at work' or a 'cosmic author'. Pinker feels no such temptation nor does he believe the declines cannot be reversed or will inevitably continue. He disagrees with those who see no possible moral purpose without religion. He recommends: 'Discovering earthly ways in which human beings can flourish, including stratagems to overcome the tragedy of the inherent appeal of aggression, should be purpose enough for anyone.'
This book is 841 densely-packed pages long and it is impossible to do it justice in a 700 word review. Just read it!
Barbara Burfoot is Secretary to the SOF Board of Trustees.