Reason
Tags
Summary
Pinker rejects the cliché that humans are irrational—mere cave dwellers full of biases, fallacies, and illusions. After all, humans have discovered the laws of nature, extended their own lifespans, enriched their lives, and set the benchmark for rationality itself.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who often feel confused by social media information and want to improve their judgment
- General readers interested in logic, probability, and decision-making thinking
- Content workers who need to write reviews, conduct analysis, or participate in public discussion
- Book-club members who want to discuss rationality and information literacy
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting light stories or pure entertainment
- Readers who want a specific fact-checking list rather than thinking tools
- Readers impatient with probability and logical reasoning who are unwilling to write and compare
Reading tips
- Start with the table of contents, pick a controversial topic you have recently encountered, and read the corresponding chapter alongside it.
- Prepare a sheet of paper; after each tool, write an example from your own life to test whether you can use it.
- If a probability or logic passage is hard to follow, skip it for now and return later; no need to grind through every word.
- After finishing, choose a piece of news or an opinion, use the book's tools to write an analysis, then review the gaps.
About the publisher
Zhejiang Education Publishing House is a professional publisher focusing on educational publishing while also serving general readers and academic accumulation, with publications covering textbooks, educational readers, popular science, and academic works. Judging from the more than 1,000 titles in the database, the press places considerable emphasis on classics and traditional culture for general readers: modern literature includes Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Wandering and Wild Grass, Xiao Hong's The Story of Hulan River, and Zhu Ziqing's Back View; classical poetry includes Three Hundred Tang Poems and selections from the "Good Chinese Poetry" series, such as the Chu Ci and Qing ci anthologies. Related authors include modern writers such as Lao She, Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, and Zhu Ziqing, as well as classical literature selectors and annotators such as Hengtang Tuishi, Jin Xingyao, Jin Kaicheng, and Qian Zhonglian. Common categories in the database also include social novels, classic works, prose and miscellaneous writings, popular science, and inspirational growth, reflecting a publishing orientation that balances educational service with the popularization of public culture.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 赞誉
- 推荐序一 理性的英勇斗士
- 推荐序二 充满敌意的世界需要理性
- 前言 我为什么写这本书
- 01 动物有多理性
- 3个简单的数学问题
- 1个简单的逻辑问题
- 1个简单的概率问题
- 1个简单的预测问题
- 如何看待认知错觉
- 02 理性与非理性
- 为什么要遵循理性
- “别假正经”
- 目标之间的冲突
- 时间框架之间的冲突
- 理性无知
- 理性的“自废武功”和理性的非理性
- 禁忌
- 道德
- 关于理性的理性
- 03 逻辑与批判性思维
- 形式逻辑与形式谬误
- 形式重建
- 批判性思维与非形式谬误
- 逻辑真理与经验真理
- 形式理性与生态理性
- 经典范畴与家族相似性范畴
- 逻辑计算与模式关联
- 04 概率与随机性
- 什么是随机性，它来自何处
- 什么是概率
- 概率与可得性
- 合取概率、析取概率与条件概率
- 先验概率与后验概率
- 05 信念与证据：贝叶斯推理
- 基础比率忽视和代表性启发式
- 科学中的先验概率和“教科书”的复仇
- 基础比率禁忌与贝叶斯禁忌
- 做个贝叶斯主义者吧
- 06 风险与回报：理性选择与预期效用
- 理性选择理论
- 效用的用处有多大
- 违反公理有多不理性
- 理性选择究竟意味着什么
- 07 正确反应与误报：信号检测与统计决策理论
- 信号与噪声，“是”还是“否”
- 成本、收益及标准设定
- 敏感性与响应偏差
- 法庭上的信号检测
- 信号检测与统计显著性
- 08 自我与他人：博弈论
- 零和博弈——石头剪刀布
- 非零和博弈：志愿者困境
- 约会及其他协调博弈
- 懦夫博弈与升级博弈
- 囚徒困境与公地悲剧
- 09 相关关系与因果关系
- 什么是相关关系
- 回归均值
- 什么是因果关系
- 从相关关系到因果关系：现实与自然实验
- 从相关关系到因果关系：无实验
- 多个原因，叠加与交互作用
- 因果网络与人
- 10 人们错在哪里
- 动机性推理
- 我方偏差
- 两种信念：现实与神话
- 伪经心理学
- 重申理性
- 11 理性为什么如此重要
- 生活中的理性
- 理性与物质进步
- 理性与道德进步
- 参考文献
FAQ
Can I read this without a background in logic or statistics?
Can this book help me identify fake news?
Is it very academic to read?
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About the author
Steven Pinker is a scholar-author known for his work on language and the human mind, whose books are shelved in Chinese reading circles under social psychology, applied psychology, social science, and language and writing. The collection holds 14 of his works, spanning the language instinct, the evolution of mind, human nature, and rationalist enlightenment; representative titles include The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Stuff of Thought, Common Knowledge, and Enlightenment Now. He is adept at using clear conceptual analysis and abundant everyday examples to make questions in linguistics, cognitive science, and moral philosophy readable and argumentative, combining academic rigor with an accessible style for general readers. As public information on his birth and death dates and nationality is limited, no speculation is offered here; readers may enter discussions of language, mind, and enlightenment through his works.
Jian Xue is a Chinese translator about whom little public information is available, and whose biographical details remain largely unknown. Judging from the seven works listed in the database, his translation work centers on social science, management, finance and economics, and personal growth, touching on interdisciplinary themes such as cooperation and sharing, creativity, leadership and social networks. His representative translations include Yochai Benkler's The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest, as well as Rationality, Imagine: How Creativity Works, Leadership and the New Science (classic edition), Connected, The Wealth of Cooperation, and Bob Dylan Can't Write Songs Anymore. Most of his translations were planned and published by Cheers Publishing, with a focus on accessible frontier works on network science, behavioral science and organizational management, offering Chinese readers reliable versions of these overseas ideas.
Jian Dingding is an author about whom limited public information is available; the library currently holds two of the author's works, the representative titles being Rationality and Critical Thinking Everyone Should Understand. Judging from these two books, the author's writing focuses on the fields of social science and philosophy reading, with particular attention to the theme of rational and critical thinking. Works of this kind are generally aimed at general readers, seeking to explain abstract methods of thinking clearly and practicably, helping people identify bias, clarify concepts, and examine reasons in everyday judgment and argument. Jian Dingding's writing orientation leans toward knowledge popularization and thinking training, with plain and accessible language that grounds key points of philosophy and logic in concrete reading experience. Since information such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and educational background is not publicly available, personal experience cannot be supplied for now; but based on the two existing works, the author can be regarded as someone devoted to popularizing methods of thinking, whose influence lies mainly in guiding readers to develop careful, reasoned habits of thought.
