Chomsky and His Critics

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Edited by Louise Antony and Norbert Hornstein

Blackwell Publishers

Due/Published April 2003, 400 pages, paper

ISBN 0631200215

In this volume, essays by William G. Lycan, Galen Strawson, Jeffrey Poland, Georges Rey, Frances Egan, Paul Horwich, Peter Ludlow, Paul Pietroski, Alison Gopnik, and Ruth Millikan address a variety of conceptual issues raised in Noam Chomsky's work on mind and language.

 Topics covered include: the ontological commitments inherent in a Chomskian approach to linguistic competence the possibility of systematic referential semantics for natural language whether we can learn anything about the foundations of language by adopting an evolutionary perspective whether the 'theory theory' in developmental psychology counters Chomsky's arguments for nativism the relevance and urgency of the mind/body problem in the post-Newtonian world These analyses are followed by substantial responses from Chomsky himself. The result is a provocative and engaging discussion of Chomsky's work on questions of central importance to theories of mind and language.

Contents

 Acknowledgements. Introduction: Norbert Hornstein (University of Maryland, College Park) and Louise M. Antony (The Ohio State University). 1. Chomsky on the Mind-Body Problem: William G. Lycan (University of North Carolina). 2. Chomsky's Challenge to Physicalism: Jeffrey Poland (University of Nebraska-Lincoln). 3. Real Materialism: Galen Strawson (University of Reading). 4. Naturalistic Inquiry: Where does Mental Representation Fit In?: Frances Egan (Rutgers University). 5. Chomsky, Intentinality and a CRTT: Georges Rey (University of Maryland, College Park). 6. Referential Semantics for I-languages?: Peter Ludlow (State University of New York, Stony Brook). 7. Meaning and Its Place in the Language Faculty: Paul Horwich (Graduate Center of the City University of New York). 8. Small Verbs, Complex Events: Analyticity without Synonymy: Paul M. Pietroski (University of Maryland, College Park). 9. In Defense of Public Language: Ruth Garrett Millikan (University of Connecticut). 10. The Theory Theory as an Alternative to the Innateness Hypothesis: Alison Gopnik (Universtiy of California at Berkeley). 11. Replies: Noam Chomsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). 12. Major Works By and About Noam Chomsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Index.