In the article “The Moral Instinct” by Steve Pinker, the author talks about morality as a global issue that needs to be revised considering the number of immoral things that are being moralized to become lifestyles. He names a number of such things with homosexuality, divorce and marijuana being on his list. He also names cigarette smoking as the best example of something that was acceptable in the past and is now being viewed as immoral since it is harmful to people’s health. His discussion continues to include a range of other discussions like the universality of morality among other vital subjects.
The most fascinating thing about the whole article is how the author catches the attention of his readers. It is worth to say that his method is nothing but spectacular. The author’s introduction is nothing like related to psychology, which is supposed to be the main discipline used in this article. The introduction is like a story that everyone needs to hear. He uses Bill Gates, Mother Teresa and Norman Borlaug as his choice of reference. It is like using a celebrity to advertise something. A look at the other part of the article shows that the subject is not an easy subject to deal with. It is hard to follow what the author is talking about. The writer understands this, and this is probably why he uses these famous individuals to make his subject appealing among the readers. He looks at the fame of each individual and their role in helping humanity. The person, who has played the biggest role, Norman, seems not popular among readers. Left with Mother Teresa and Bill Gates for the readers to choose their favorite, the author predicts that Gates would not be favored by many like Mother Teresa.
Thinking that the story would continue, the author cuts it short with the issue of morality. By comparing Bill Gates with Mother Teresa, the author is trying to point out that morality is more notable, of more concern to the society no matter how much money or fame an individual may have. However, the author does not buy this since he sees this as a veil to distract people away from other callings of actions that make people flourish or suffer.
Throughout the story, the author approaches his subjects with clear examples from researchers in this field. For example, he talks about the issue of morality by giving out examples of how it could or not be genetic. Thus, just like the author uses a fascinating introduction, he is able to keep the reader engaged in this discussion through stories that catch the reader’s attention. He leaves the reader to justify whether the issues he presents are moral or not. This means that reader engagement in this discussion is vital, otherwise the subject matter is not an easy to present to the readers. One can verify this since it is hard to grasp what the writer is talking about at first glance. The reader has to keep reading and re-reading the article. The main reason behind this is that the author does not use direct language to present his argument. Instead, he combines psychology and philosophy to determine whether something is true or not.
In conclusion, the article “The Moral Instinct” by Steve Pinker is concerned with the issue of morality as a universal concern. The author uses various tactics to engage his readers throughout the article. In this way, he is able to move step by step in explaining an otherwise hard subject to the reader.