Representation of Language: Philosophical Issues in a Chomskyan Linguistics (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780198855637)

This book is a defense of a Chomskyan conception of language against philosophical objections that have been raised against it. It also provides, however, a critical examination of some of the glosses on the theory: the assimilation of it to traditional Rationalism; a supposed conflict between being innate and learned; an unclear ontology and the need of a "representational pretense" with regard to it; and, most crucially, a rejection of Chomsky's eliminativism about the role of intentionality not only in his own theories, but in any serious science at all. This last is a fundamentally important issue for linguistics, psychology, and philosophy that an examination of a theory as rich and promising as a Chomskyan linguistics should help illuminate. The book ends with a discussion of some further issues that Chomsky misleadingly associates with his theory: an anti-realism about ordinary thought and talk, and a dismissal of the mind/body problem(s), towards the solution of some of which his theory in fact makes an important contribution.

Author: Georges Rey
ISBN-10: 019885563X
ISBN-13: 9780198855637
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 12/15/2020
Pages: 480
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.90lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2021