Pronoun problem

Question

pronoun problemThe passage below is from ‘the Blank Slate’ by Steven Pinker.http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm The first step in connecting culture to the sciences of human nature is to recognize that culture, for all its importance, is not some miasma that seeps into people through their skin. Culture relies on neural circuitry that accomplishes the feat we call learning. Those circuits do not make us indiscriminate mimics but have to work in surprisingly subtle ways to make the transmission of culture possible. That is why a focus on innate faculties of mind is not an alternative to a focus on learning, culture, and socialization, but rather an attempt to explain how they work. In this passage, I’m not sure what the underlined ‘they’ stand for.It seems to refer to ‘learning, culture, and socialization,’ but still I cannot rule out the possibility that it represents ‘innate faculties.’I’m in a dilemma.Regards.

Deadrat · Accepted Answer

Your dilemma may seem to be syntactic, but it's really not. The real problem is that you're reading The Blank Slate. Pinker's thinking is fuzzy, and that fuzziness has infected his grammar. Look at the sentences that precede the one you're worried about. They say that culture relies on neural circuitry that works to make culture possible. It should be clear that this is practically a tautology. This is like explaining how the lights work in your house by saying that the lights rely on electrical circuits that make the lights go on and off. I trust you also understand that no one has identified these "circuits," so even if they exist as "circuits," we have no idea how they work. Without actual, concrete neurology, Pinker is forced to rely on abstractions, which I've highlighted in red for the sentence in question:

That is why a focus on innate faculties of mind is not an alternative to a focus on learning, culture, and socialization, but rather an attempt to explain how they work.

With all these abstract and metaphorical constructs, it's easy to lose track of pronoun antecedents. The sentence says that FOCUS A is not an alternative to FOCUS B but rather an attempt at an explanation. The "not A but rather B" construction requires contrasting qualities: "I'm not big but rather I'm strong." Big and strong are related and contrasting qualities. Do you know what it means to contrast a focus and an explanation (or rather an attempt at an explanation)? I don't, and I rather suspect that Pinker doesn't either.

It's impossible to say for sure what the antecedent to "they" is, but if it were "innate faculties," then why bring up "focus, learning, culture, and socialization" at all? Since Pinker is talking about "neural circuitry" that makes culture "possible," it is probably the case that he thinks that finding out about these circuits will give us an explanation of how culture works.

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks a lot for your considerate and thorough reply, deadrat.
I don't think I can thank you enough.

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