Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage
By Steven Pinker
As a cognitive scientist, the ultimate subject of Steven Pinker’s fascination is how we think about each other’s thoughts. This process seems infinite and complex.
It sounds impossible, yet Steven Pinker shows that we do it constantly. This awareness, which we experience as something public or “out there”, is known as common knowledge. It has a powerful influence on our social, political and economic lives. In this exploration, Pinker demonstrates the depth of understanding that shapes When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.
Understanding common knowledge
Common knowledge, Pinker explains, can illuminate many of life’s mysteries. It helps us make sense of financial bubbles and crashes.
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows clarifies how revolutions can appear suddenly and why diplomacy often involves posturing and pretence. It also explains the eruption of social media shaming mobs and academic cancel culture. Even the awkwardness of a first date can be traced to this same cognitive awareness.
At the same time, people often try to avoid common knowledge. They work to ensure that even if everyone knows something, no one can be certain that everyone else knows they know it. This tension gives rise to social rituals such as benign hypocrisy, veiled bribes and threats, sexual innuendo and pretending not to notice the elephant in the room. These behaviours reveal the paradoxes that define When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.
In exploring these paradoxes, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows invites readers to see how humans constantly attempt to enter each other’s minds. The book exposes the harmonies, hypocrisies and outrages that result from our efforts to understand and predict the thoughts of others.
The book reveals that our social lives depend not only on what we know but also on what we believe others know we know.
About the author
Steven Pinker is one of the world’s leading authorities on language and the mind. His popular and highly acclaimed books include Rationality, Words and Rules, How the Mind Works and The Language Instinct.
He has received several major awards for excellence in teaching and scientific research. Currently, Pinker serves as the Peter de Florez Professor of Psychology in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through his work, he continues to deepen our understanding of human reasoning and communication, reinforcing the central ideas explored in When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.
- PUBLISHER | Penguin Random House SA |
- ISBN | 9780241618837 |
- Recommended Retail Price | R495.00 |
- Classification | Human Behaviour |
