How the Mind Works

How the Mind Works

Cover of the first edition
Author	Steven Pinker
Language	English
Subject	Cognitive science
Publisher	W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date	1997
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	660
ISBN	978-0-393-04535-2
Preceded by	The Language Instinct
Followed by	Words and Rules

How the Mind Works is a 1997 book by the Canadian-American cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, in which the author attempts to explain some of the human mind's poorly understood functions and quirks in evolutionary terms. Drawing heavily on the paradigm of evolutionary psychology articulated by John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, Pinker covers subjects such as vision, emotion, feminism, and "the meaning of life". He argues for both a computational theory of mind and a neo-Darwinist, adaptationist approach to evolution, all of which he sees as the central components of evolutionary psychology. He criticizes difference feminism because he believes scientific research has shown that women and men differ little or not at all in their moral reasoning.^[1] The book was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist.