NOTE: This is an excerpt from a special two-hour, four-part DVD featuring one of the most insightful minds we have ever encountered.

Part I: Are our thoughts shaped by the language we use?

Part II: How We Understand Language

Part III: The Evolution of Language

Part IV:Consciousness and Cognition.

Stephen Pinker, Ph.D., is professor and director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is author of Visual Cognition and The Language Instinct.