When everyone knows that everyone knows... : common knowledge and the science of harmony, hypocrisy and outrage
Pinker, Steven, 1954-2025
Book
As a cognitive scientist, the ultimate subject of Steven Pinker's fascination is how we think about each other's thoughts, ad infinitum. It sounds impossible, but Steven Pinker shows that we do it all the time. This awareness, which we experience as something that is public or 'out there', is called common knowledge, and it has a momentous impact on our social, political, and economic lives.Common knowledge, Pinker shows, can make sense of many of life's enigmas: financial bubbles and crashes, revolutions that come out of nowhere, the posturing and pretence of diplomacy, the eruption of social media shaming mobs and academic cancel culture, the awkwardness of a first date. But people also go to great lengths to avoid common knowledge-to ensure that even if everyone knows something, they can't know that everyone else knows they know it.
Main title:
Author:
Pinker, Steven, 1954-, author
Imprint:
London : Allen Lane, 2025.
Collation:
xi, 364 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9780241618820 (hbk)
Dewey class:
306.42
Language:
English
Related title:
When everyone knows that everyone knows... : common knowledge and the science of harmony, hypocrisy and outrage
Subject:
BRN:
1739778