This is thinking in public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about front-line

theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them.

I'm Albert Mer, your host and

president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Just who are we? Are we a mind, a soul, a body? This is one of the most perplexing questions of the modern age, and it's

a question that is addressed by several from different fields of cognitive science, of psychology,

psychiatry, language studies, and all the rest, rarely are all of these brought together

in one person, but that one person is someone with whom we're about to speak. Stephen Pinker is Harvard College Professor and John Stone Family Professor

Psychology at Harvard University. You probably know him by his books and his appearances in the media.

Previously, he taught at Stanford

in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His research subjects include visual cognition

in the psychology of language

which he's won prizes from the National Academy of Sciences. He is known as

one of the top public intellectuals in the world. He was listed in Time magazine's

100 most influential people in the world today.

His latest book is the stuff of thought.

Language is a window into human nature.

Dr. Pinker, welcome to thinking in public.

Thank you.

If you are to think of your own thinking in the show. Thank you

begin with first principles. Where do you think you begin with first principles? Where does your worldview find its its grounding?

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