James Mcgilvray

Chomsky (eBook, PDF)

Language, Mind and Politics

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Noam Chomsky has made major contributions to three fields: political history and analysis, linguistics, and the philosophies of mind, language, and human nature. In this thoroughly revised and updated volume, James McGilvray provides a critical introduction to Chomsky's work in these three key areas and assesses their continuing importance and relevance for today. In an incisive and comprehensive analysis, McGilvray argues that Chomsky's work can be seen as a unified intellectual project. He shows how Chomsky adapts the tools of natural science to the study of mind and of language in particular and explains why Chomsky's "rationalist" approach to the mind continues to be opposed by the majority of contemporary cognitive scientists. The book also discusses some of Chomsky's central political themes in depth, examining how Chomsky's view of the good life and the ideal form of social organization is related to and in part dependent on his biologically based account of human nature and the place of language within it. As in the first edition, McGilvray emphasizes the distinction between common sense and science and the difference between rationalist and empiricist approaches to the mind, making clear the importance of these themes for understanding Chomsky's work and showing that they are based on elementary observations that are accessible to everyone. This edition has been extensively re-written to emphasize Chomsky's recent work, which increasingly 'biologizes' the study of language and mind and - by implication - the study of human nature. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of philosophy, linguistics, and politics, as well as to all those keen to develop a critical understanding of one of the most controversial and important thinkers writing today.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Seitenzahl: 288
• Erscheinungstermin: 17. Dezember 2013
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780745674148
• Artikelnr.: 40178262

Autorenporträt

James McGilvray is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University in Canada.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface vi
Introduction 1
1 Chomsky's Contributions 7
2 The Mind and Its Sciences 26
3 Partitioning the Mind: Bad and Good Cognitive Science 52
4 Human Problem-Solving Capacities 69
5 The Science of Language 89
6 Linguistic Meanings and Their Uses 136
7 Chomsky on Politics: Some Basic Themes 158
8 Language and Politics: Justification 205
Glossary 234
Notes 238
Bibliography 245
Index 254

Rezensionen

This is the best all around introduction to Chomsky s work that I know of. However, it is far more than an introduction. It is an ambitious synthesis of all parts of Chomsky s views written in a manner accessible to a beginner yet thought provoking for those deeply immersed in Chomskyana. It considers Chomsky s work in the wider context of cultural and classical philosophical views on human nature, knowledge and mind. In addition, McGilvray shuns no part of Chomsky s vast work. He provides accessible and illuminating discussions of both his theoretical work in grammar, his philosophical views on the structure of mind and his political views. I recommend McGilvray s work both to neophytes interested in an introduction to Chomsky s thought and to experts interested in an illuminating discussion of "how it all hangs together". Professor Norbert Hornstein, University of Maryland

This well written and insightful book explains accurately Chomsky s ideas about mind, language, and social ideas. Its presentation of key concepts is accessible to laypersons and is informative to the experts as well. Chomsky s key contributions to philosophy and the social sciences are well articulated. The book should be read by the general public, and all philosophers and social scientists. Professor Julius Moravcsik, Department of Philosophy, University of Stanford