From “Steven Pinker Meets Socrates,” which was published in January by First Things. This dialogue incorporates text from Pinker’s book Rationality, which was published last year.

steven pinker: Socrates! We don’t often see you here in Harvard Yard.

socrates: No indeed, Pinker, for I do not wish to seem unreasonable by trespassing on the precincts of those who, like yourself, are highly reputed for superior knowledge, when I know very well how ignorant I am. But it is just this question—about what is reasonable—that has drawn me here. It seems you have…