: Now, along with Chomsky's notion of the human LAD (innate rules of language), are humans also born with a moral device? That's the question I want to begin to explore.
Well, Hank, thanks for showing off your chops on language, it was as edifying as it was interesting...
Now then: ' are humans also born with a moral device'?
Once again: human nature, whether posited by the left or the right, is nothing but an esoteric claim on the absolute. To say that such-and-such behavior is 'human nature' (an inherent moral 'device') only takes the discussion back several centuries. Who shall determine WHAT )proper) human nature is? And that question only brings us right back to the ruling ideas of each epoch and Marx's historical materialism where such questions belong.
If you want a monopoly on 'human nature,' go find a religion.
