Pinker said he floats a number of hypotheses as to why cooperation and human flourishing in general have increased.

This is a claim about Pinker's own work, judged as of 2026-10-11. TRUE: Pinker's published work (the book or talk being discussed, or his work such as Better Angels or Enlightenment Now) puts forward several distinct hypotheses (at least two) explaining why cooperation and/or human flourishing have increased. MOSTLY TRUE: several explanations are offered, but they cover only cooperation or only flourishing, or are framed as firm explanations rather than hypotheses. MIXED: only one main explanation is offered, with others just mentioned. MOSTLY FALSE: the work describes the increases but barely tries to explain them. FALSE: no such hypotheses appear in his work.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 OF OUR NATURE (The Better Angels of Our Nature, excerpt PDF) Yale Law School (hosts PDF of Steven Pinker's book The Better Angels of Our Nature) Own record

   “In the final chapter I .try to bring the psychology and history back together by identifying exogenous forces that favor our peaceable motives and that have driven the multiple declines in violence”

2. E2 OF OUR NATURE (The Better Angels of Our Nature, excerpt PDF) Yale Law School (hosts PDF of Steven Pinker's book The Better Angels of Our Nature) Own record

   “it was revived in modern biology as an explanation of how cooperation among nonrelatives evolved.”

3. E3 The Better Angels of Our Nature - Wikipedia Wikipedia · 13 November 2011

   “He highlights the role of nation-state monopolies on force, of commerce (making other people become more valuable alive than dead), of increased literacy and communication (promoting empathy), as well as a rise in a rational problem-solving orientation as possible causes of this decline in violence.”

4. E4 Big Ideas in Social Science: An Interview With Steven Pinker on Violence and Human Nature Pacific Standard (psmag.com) · 21 October 2016 Own record

   “There are a number of causes. One of them is the spread of the reach of government: if you outsource your revenge and justice to a disinterested third party, there will be less bloodshed”

An independent summary of The Better Angels of Our Nature (E3) says Pinker puts forward several distinct possible causes for the decline in violence: state monopolies on force, commerce, literacy and communication, and a rise in rational problem-solving. The book's own text (E1) says its final chapter identifies exogenous forces behind the multiple declines in violence, and it refers to an idea revived in modern biology to explain how cooperation among nonrelatives evolved (E2). The evidence therefore shows several hypotheses, framed as possible causes. However, they are aimed mainly at the decline in violence rather than at cooperation and human flourishing in general, so the claim is mostly rather than fully supported.