The Better Angels of Our Nature
E194847
The Better Angels of Our Nature is a non-fiction book by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker that argues, with extensive historical and statistical evidence, that violence has declined over long stretches of human history and explores the psychological and social forces behind this trend.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Better Angels of Our Nature canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1726332 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Better Angels of Our Nature Context triple: [Steven Pinker, notableWork, The Better Angels of Our Nature]
-
A.
The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness is a philosophical work by Martha Nussbaum that explores how human vulnerability, luck, and moral conflict shape the pursuit of a good life, especially through readings of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
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B.
The Blank Slate
The Blank Slate is a book by Steven Pinker that critiques the notion of human minds as entirely shaped by environment and argues for the significant role of innate human nature, making it a foundational text in evolutionary psychology debates.
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C.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Guns, Germs, and Steel is a widely influential book by Jared Diamond that explores how geography, environment, and the distribution of domesticable plants and animals shaped the unequal development of human societies.
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D.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is a nonfiction book by Isabel Wilkerson that examines the hidden caste systems shaping social hierarchy and inequality in the United States and around the world.
-
E.
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind
"Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind" is a foundational textbook by David M. Buss that explains human thought and behavior through the lens of evolutionary theory and adaptation.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Better Angels of Our Nature Target entity description: The Better Angels of Our Nature is a non-fiction book by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker that argues, with extensive historical and statistical evidence, that violence has declined over long stretches of human history and explores the psychological and social forces behind this trend.
-
A.
The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness is a philosophical work by Martha Nussbaum that explores how human vulnerability, luck, and moral conflict shape the pursuit of a good life, especially through readings of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
-
B.
The Blank Slate
The Blank Slate is a book by Steven Pinker that critiques the notion of human minds as entirely shaped by environment and argues for the significant role of innate human nature, making it a foundational text in evolutionary psychology debates.
-
C.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Guns, Germs, and Steel is a widely influential book by Jared Diamond that explores how geography, environment, and the distribution of domesticable plants and animals shaped the unequal development of human societies.
-
D.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is a nonfiction book by Isabel Wilkerson that examines the hidden caste systems shaping social hierarchy and inequality in the United States and around the world.
-
E.
Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind
"Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind" is a foundational textbook by David M. Buss that explains human thought and behavior through the lens of evolutionary theory and adaptation.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ |
| author | Steven Pinker ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| explores |
institutions that reduce violence
ⓘ
psychological causes of violence ⓘ role of commerce in reducing violence ⓘ role of cosmopolitanism in reducing violence ⓘ role of empathy in moral progress ⓘ role of reason in moral progress ⓘ role of the state in reducing violence ⓘ social causes of violence ⓘ |
| genre |
history
ⓘ
popular science ⓘ psychology ⓘ |
| hasPart |
analysis of homicide rates over time
ⓘ
analysis of war and interstate conflict ⓘ discussion of decline in cruel punishments ⓘ discussion of decline in domestic violence ⓘ discussion of decline in genocide and mass killings ⓘ discussion of human rights revolutions ⓘ discussion of humanitarian revolution ⓘ discussion of long peace after World War II ⓘ discussion of prehistoric violence ⓘ discussion of rights revolutions for minorities and women ⓘ discussion of violence in ancient civilizations ⓘ |
| hasReception |
criticized for interpretation of some historical evidence
ⓘ
praised for breadth of data ⓘ widely discussed in academic and popular media ⓘ |
| inSeriesOfAuthorWorks | followed by Enlightenment Now ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainThesis |
modern times are less violent than most of the past
ⓘ
violence has declined over long stretches of human history ⓘ |
| notableFor |
argument that modernity has reduced violence
ⓘ
comprehensive quantitative data on violence trends ⓘ |
| pageCount | over 800 pages ⓘ |
| publicationDate | 2011 ⓘ |
| publisher |
The Viking Press
ⓘ
surface form:
Viking Books
The Viking Press ⓘ
surface form:
Viking Press
|
| subject |
civilization and progress
ⓘ
decline of violence ⓘ history of violence ⓘ human nature ⓘ moral progress ⓘ psychology of violence ⓘ statistics of violence ⓘ |
| titleOrigin |
First Inaugural Address
ⓘ
surface form:
Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address
|
| usesMethod |
cross-cultural comparison
ⓘ
historical analysis ⓘ statistical analysis ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Better Angels of Our Nature Description of subject: The Better Angels of Our Nature is a non-fiction book by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker that argues, with extensive historical and statistical evidence, that violence has declined over long stretches of human history and explores the psychological and social forces behind this trend.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.