Steven Pinker and Peter Singer have been awarded the Frontiers of Knowledge in the Humanities and Social Sciences award, granted by the BBVA Foundation in recognition of “their innovative academic contributions in the field of rationality and moral progress” and for having brought public debates as relevant as scientific knowledge, the values ??of humanism or the moral consideration of animals, which have ended up shaping the culture and legal framework of the present.
“Both thinkers are united by depth, brilliance, the use of rationality and the advancement of moral progress that they have known how to highlight in their books and have extended to the whole of society”, highlighted the president of the jury, Carmen Iglesias, Professor of History of Political Ideas and Forms at the Complutense University of Madrid and Director of the Royal Academy of History.
Regarding Peter Singer (Melbourne, 1946), the jury’s report highlights that he is one of the most influential applied moral philosophers today and recalls that “he marked a turning point by extending and founding ethics by applying it to the domain of animals”, which has had subsequent consequences and translation into international legislation on animal welfare and moral progress. In fact, Singer’s work is at the foundation of the movements in favor of animal welfare and the defense of current animal rights.
Regarding Steven Pinker (Montreal, 1954), Professor of Psychology at Harvard, the jury recalls that “he has combined very outstanding achievements in evolutionary cognitive psychology with highly perceptive analyzes of the conditions of human progress” and emphasizes that “his vision of this progress offers an optimistic perspective anchored in reason, science and humanism”.
Pinker began her research career in experimental cognitive psychology examining how children acquire language, the most distinctive human ability. She later argued that human beings are born with biological programming, a genetic inheritance that conditions them, but also with unusual abilities to promote progress, such as language and rationality or the capacity for empathy. In her opinion, nature provides the seeds, the bases, and then what drives progress is the development of ideals, values, and institutions that enhance rationality and provide “the ability to inhibit and repress our darkest instincts.” .
The psychologist and linguist now awarded by the BBVA Foundation believes that progress is attributable to the impact of the ideals and institutions of the Enlightenment, including democratic governments, universities, hospitals, scientific societies, the free press, the UN or the European Union. For Pinker, these institutions bring out the best in human nature: “they make us collectively smarter than any of us individually and at the same time encourage our cooperation.”
And compared to those who see the problems derived from climate change or geopolitical tensions as monumental crises that anticipate apocalyptic societies, Pinker argues that they must be seen only as problems to be solved and put rationality at the service of maximizing human well-being, which is what that has always driven progress.
The philosopher Peter Singer shook the foundations of ethics in 1975 with his book Animal Liberation, in which he explained that the fact that animals do not belong to the species Homo sapiens does not make their pain less ethically important. . “Pain is pain, and it is just as bad, whatever being suffers it,” he defends in a work that not only had an impact on the academic field of applied ethics, but also offered conceptual foundations to movements in defense of well-being. animals internationally.
Singer, for whom the key issue from a moral and ethical point of view is suffering, admits that significant progress has been made and that many of the practices he described in the first edition of his book are now illegal in the European Union. However, he believes that there is still a long way to go, especially in the field of the welfare of the breeding and slaughter of animals for food, which is the area where he considers that unjustifiable abuse occurs. “If we limit ourselves to terrestrial vertebrates, we are talking about between 70 and 80 billion animals produced each year; and if we also include fish, we would add another 120 billion to the total,” says Singer.
The philosopher believes that advances will come hand in hand with technology, which will allow the development of products of animal origin through cell cultures, without causing the suffering of any animal and with the added advantage of reducing gas emissions and damage to the environment. planet.
