Chomsky and His Critics

351 Pages·2003·1.95 MB·English

by  Louise M. Antony

CHOMSKY
........................................................................................................
AND HIS CRITICS
PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR CRITICS
GeneralEditor:ErnestLepore
Philosophy is an interactive enterprise. Much of it is carried out in dialogue as
theoriesandideasarepresentedandsubsequentlyrefinedinthecrucibleofclose
scrutiny. The purpose of this series is to reconstruct this vital interplay among
thinkers. Each book consists of a temporary assessment of an important living
philosopher’s work. A collection of essays written by an interdisciplinary group
ofcriticsaddressingthesubstantialthesesofthephilosopher’scorpusopenseach
volume.Inthelastsection,thephilosopherrespondstohisorhercritics,clarifies
crucialpointsofthediscussion,orupdateshisorherdoctrines.
1 DretskeandHisCritics
EditedbyBrianMcLaughlin
2 JohnSearleandHisCritics
EditedbyErnestLeporeandRobertvanGulick
3 MeaninginMind:FodorandHisCritics
EditedbyBarryLoewerandGeorgesRey
4 DennettandHisCritics
EditedbyBoDahlbom
5 DantoandHisCritics
EditedbyMarkRollins
6 PerspectivesonQuine
EditedbyRobertB.BarrettandRogerF.Gibson
7 TheChurchlandsandTheirCritics
EditedbyRobertN.McCauley
8 SingerandHisCritics
EditedbyDaleJamieson
9 RortyandHisCritics
EditedbyRobertB.Brandom
10 ChomskyandHisCritics
EditedbyLouiseM.AntonyandNorbertHornstein
CHOMSKY
........................................................................................................
AND HIS CRITICS
Edited by
Louise M. Antony and Norbert Hornstein
0 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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The right of Louise M. Antony and Norbert Hornstein to be identified as the
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with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK
Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the
publisher.
First published 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Reprinted 2003
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chomsky and his critics / edited by Louise M. Antony and Norbert Hornstein.
p. cm. - (Philosophers and their critics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-53 1-20020-7 (alk. paper) - ISBN 0-63 1-20021- 5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Chomsky, Noam. 2. Linguistics - Philosophy. 1. Antony, Louise M.
11. Hornstein, Norbert. 111. Series.
P85.C47 C47 2002
4 10’.924c21
2002074365
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Set in 10/12pt Ehrhardt
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Printed and bound in the United Kingdom
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Contents
NotesonContributors vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
norbert hornstein and louise antony
1 ChomskyontheMind–BodyProblem 11
william g. lycan
2 Chomsky’sChallengetoPhysicalism 29
jeffrey poland
3 RealMaterialism 49
galen strawson
4 NaturalisticInquiry:WheredoesMentalRepresentationFitin? 89
frances egan
5 Chomsky,Intentionality,andaCRTT 105
georges rey
6 ReferentialSemanticsforI-languages? 140
peter ludlow
7 MeaninganditsPlaceintheLanguageFaculty 162
paul horwich
vi contents
8 SmallVerbs,ComplexEvents:AnalyticitywithoutSynonymy 179
paul m. pietroski
9 InDefenseofPublicLanguage 215
ruth garrett millikan
10 TheTheoryTheoryasanAlternativetotheInnatenessHypothesis 238
alison gopnik
11 Replies
noam chomsky
ReplytoLycan 255
ReplytoPoland 263
ReplytoStrawson 266
ReplytoEgan 268
ReplytoRey 274
ReplytoLudlow 287
ReplytoHorwich 295
ReplytoPietroski 304
ReplytoMillikan 308
ReplytoGopnik 316
MajorWorksbyNoamChomsky 329
Index 333
Notes on Contributors
Frances Egan isAssociateProfessorofPhilosophyandamemberoftheCenter
for Cognitive Science at Rutgers University. She is the author of numerous
articles in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of psychology, including
“FolkPsychologyandCognitiveArchitecture,”and“ComputationandContent.”
Alison Gopnik is Professor of Psychology at the University of California at
Berkeley. She is the author of many articles on cognitive development and its
relation to philosophical problems, and has written two books, Words, Thoughts
and Theories with Andrew Meltzoff, and The Scientist in the Crib with Andrew
MeltzoffandPatriciaKuhl.
Paul Horwich is Kornblith Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Centerof
the City University of New York. He is the author of Probability and Evidence:
Asymmetries in Time, Truth, Meaning, as well as numerous essays in the philo-
sophyoflanguage,thephilosophyofscience,andmetaphysics.
Peter Ludlow is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the State University of
NewYork,StonyBrook.HeisauthorofSemantics,Tense,andTime:AnEssayin
the Metaphysics of Natural Language, as well as a number of articles on topics
ranging from semantics and the philosophy of linguistics to cyberspace ethics.
He is editor or co-editor of several volumes, including Readingsin thePhilosophy
ofLanguage.
William G. Lycan is William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Philosophy at the
University of North Carolina. His publications include Logical Form in Natural
Language, Knowing Who (with StevenBoe¨r), JudgmentandJustification,Modality
andMeaning,ConsciousnessandExperience,andRealConditionals.
viii notes on contributors
Ruth Garrett Millikan isagraduateofOberlinCollegeandYaleUniversity.
She is currently Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and The Alumni
AssociationDistinguishedProfessorfor2000–2003attheUniversityofConnect-
icut. She is author of Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories, White
Queen Psychology, On Clear and Confused Ideas, and Varieties of Meaning: The
Jean Nicod Lectures for 2002, forthcoming. She works in the philosophies of
biology,psychology,andlanguage,andonquestionsinontology.
Paul M. Pietroski is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics at the
University of Maryland at College Park. He is the author of Causing Actions,
alongwitharticlesinthephilosophyoflanguageandsemantics.
Jeffrey Poland is a member of the Department of Psychology and the Center
for Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is the
authorofPhysicalism:ThePhilosophicalFoundations,andco-author,withWilliam
Spaulding, of two forthcoming books on the analysis and reform of clinical and
researchpracticesconcerningmentalillness.
Georges Rey is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland at
CollegePark.Heistheco-editor,withBarryLoewer,ofMeaninginMind:Fodor
andhisCritics,andtheauthorofContemporaryPhilosopyofMind:AContentiously
ClassicalApproach,aswellasofnumerousarticlesinthephilosophyofmindand
cognitivescience.
Galen Strawson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading. He
is the author of books on free will, causation, and the philosophy of mind:
Freedom and Belief, The Secret Connexion: Causation, Realism, and David Hume,
andMentalReality,andiscurrentlyworkingonabookonthe“self.”
Acknowledgments
WewouldliketothanktheAnarchyArchives,forcompilingourlistofworksby
Noam Chomsky, and the College of Humanities and Department of Philosophy
oftheOhioStateUniversityforhelpindeferringthecostsofproduction.
Introduction
NORBERT HORNSTEIN and
LOUISE ANTONY
There is probably no single person within the last century who has had a more
dramaticimpactoncontemporaryunderstandingsoflanguageandthemindthan
Noam Chomsky. Not only did he fundamentally restructure the science of
linguistics, but he transformed the science of psychology, rehabilitating the
doctrines of mentalism and nativism after their long exile during the reign of
behavorism. Philosophers took note: the Chomskian revolution offeredbothnew
possibilities for understanding language and mind, and new challenges to
entrenched philosophical opinion. This volume brings together ten scholars –
philosophers and philosophically minded cognitive scientists – to explore some
ofthepossibilitiesandtotakeupsomeofthechallenges.
AnydiscussionofChomsky’sworkmustbeginwiththelinguistics.Oneofthe
central features of Chomsky’s view of language is his emphasis on the biological
basis of the human linguistic capacity. Fish swim, birds fly, people talk.
According to Chomsky, these various talents are of a piece – all of them rest on
specific biological structures whose intricate detail is, to a considerable degree,
attributable to the organism’s genetic endowment. Human linguistic capacity
involves, in particular, a postulated “mental organ,” many of whose specific
features are innately specified. This posited structure is initially dedicated to the
acquisition of linguistic knowledge and is subsequently involved in various
aspects of language use, including the production and understanding of utter-
ances. The aim of linguistic theory is to describe the initial state of this faculty
and the changes it undergoes with exposure to linguistic data. Chomsky charac-
terizestheinitialstateofthelanguagefacultyasasetofprinciplesandparameters
(see Chomsky 1981). Language acquisition then consists in the setting of these
open parameter values on the basis of linguistic data available to the child. In
this way, Chomsky explains both the commonalities and the differences among
humanly natural languages. The commonalities are reflections of the initial state