The Science of Language: Interviews with James McGilvray Author: Noam Chomsky | Language: English | ISBN:
1107602408 | Format: EPUB
The Science of Language: Interviews with James McGilvray Description
Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential thinkers of our time, yet his views are often misunderstood. In this previously unpublished series of interviews, Chomsky discusses his iconoclastic and important ideas concerning language, human nature and politics. In dialogue with James McGilvray, Professor of Philosophy at McGill University, Chomsky takes up a wide variety of topics - the nature of language, the philosophies of language and mind, morality and universality, science and common sense, and the evolution of language. McGilvray's extensive commentary helps make this incisive set of interviews accessible to a variety of readers. The volume is essential reading for those involved in the study of language and mind, as well as anyone with an interest in Chomsky's ideas.
- Paperback: 328 pages
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (April 9, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1107602408
- ISBN-13: 978-1107602403
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Love him, hate him, or fall somewhere in the middle, with Noam Chomsky you know what you're getting: clear, dispassionate analysis, unapologetic empiricism, and a humble spirit.
In the interviews included in "The Science of Language", James McGilvray draws out Chomsky on a host of topics including, but not limited to: pure science and its method, universal grammar, common sense, universality, critiquing (neo, too often social)Darwinistic 'pop biology', euphemistic vocabulary, modern myth-building, the unique human capacity to do math, the (rather extensive) limitations of selective adaptation, Galileo's thought experiments, the good and the bad of story-telling, and for me (a highlight) a simple explanation of his theory of "Merge", the sort of Big Bang in the development of the human faculty for language.
There is also almost nothing - believe it or not - about politics or Chomsky's views on western history. The man, despite his genius, or perhaps as evidence of it, is willing to admit when asked about the connection between his research in linguistics and his political views, "...it's principled, but it's weak...there's no deductive connection. You could take any view on either of these topics, and it wouldn't be inconsistent to hold them." That's humble. And it's as refreshing as it is rare among those of our species blessed with the biggest brain-pans.
For those who've read extensively in Chomsky (smiling the entire time or gritting your teeth) there is probably not much new here for you, except perhaps another extended example of his tremendous ability to take an incredibly complex idea and say it in a way so that a child in school (fine, a bright child) could get it. Researchers, academics, writers the world over can learn from Noam Chomsky.
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