- Capitalism and Alternatives -

don't hoist the white flag so soon Hank...

Posted by: Piper on February 11, 19100 at 12:23:14:

In Reply to: My Last Bit on This posted by Hank on February 10, 19100 at 12:05:59:

Piper: That behaviourist paper that purports to refute Chomsky is located here.

: Behaviorism, by definition, denies anything to the mind beyond dispositions to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli. This includes the Behavioralist view of linguistic competetence, stated in Skinner's book. In contrast, Chomsky says that every human mind has a MENTAL ORGAN SPECIFIC TO LANGUAGE which is INTRICATELY STRUCTURED. It is structured (or, to use a computer metaphor, 'hard-wired') PRIOR TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONING.

Piper: again i do not believe skinner talked about 'stimuli'.

I beileve it has been orthodoxy since Kant that the mind is structured a priori and 'awoken' by experience. This was the solution to the rationalist/empiricist dispute.

I can't offer a defence of skinner here against Chomsky's attack because i haven't read it in 4 years. But if i can be bothererd reacquainting myself i might just do it.



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