The Stuff of Thought

The Stuff of Thought (2007) is the fifth popular science book by Steven Pinker within his series of trilogies on language, the mind, and human nature. Its central claim is that language is a cognitive tool: it examines the deep and complex relationship between how a person perceives the world and aspects such as words, grammar, and metaphors.

Pinker argues that language serves two functions at once: conveying a message to a listener and negotiating the social relationship between speaker and listener. From this perspective he asks questions such as what the peculiar syntax of swearing reveals about us. The first chapter explores the uncertainty of linguistic boundaries, using the debate over whether the September 11, 2001 attacks were one event or two, a distinction that carried legal consequences for the insurance of the World Trade Center's twin towers.