Educating Eve : the 'language instinct' debate
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Educating Eve : the 'language instinct' debate
（Open linguistics series）
Cassell, 1997
- : hbk.
- : pbk.
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hbk. ISBN 9780304339082
Description
This is a study which poses questions about the nature of human mental development - does it depend on instinctive structures of thought, or can humans produce new ideas not based on biologically-fixed themes? This book discusses arguments by Steven Pinker, Noam Chomsky and others, in order to support the latter view. Steven Pinker's book "The Language Instinct" maintains that language is heard-wired in our genes. Others argue that this also holds for much of the specific knowledge and understanding expressed in language. When the first human Eve evolved from pre-human apes (it is claimed), her biological inheritance comprised not just a distinctive anatomy, but a rich structure of cognition. Sampson finds that these arguments, some depending on earlier contributions by writers such as Noam Chomsky, rest on false premises, or embody a logical fallacy. His theory is that what mankind inherits genetically is not specific structures of language and understanding, but a very general ability to produce new ideas in response to an unpredictable environment. We are born knowing nothing, but able to learn anything.
Table of Contents
- Culture or biology?
- the original arguments for a language instinct
- the debate is renewed
- linguistic structure turns "Queen's Evidence"
- the evidence for linguistic theories
- a hermetic manuscript
- biology and knowledge
- creative evolution.
- Volume
-
: pbk. ISBN 9780304702909
Description
Are we creatures who learn new things? Or does human mental development consist of awakening structures of thought? A view has gained ground - advocated, for example, by Steven Pinker's book "The Language Instinct" - that language in much of its detail is "hard-wired" in our genes. Others add that this holds too for much of the specific knowledge and understanding expressed in language. When the first human evolved from apes (it is claimed), her biological inheritance comprised not just a distinctive anatomy but a rich structure of cognition. This book examines the various arguments for instinctive knowledge, with the author arguing that each one rests on false premises or embodies a logical fallacy. A different picture of learning is suggested by Karl Popper's account of knowledge growing through "conjectures and refutations". The facts of human language are best explained, Sampson contends, by taking language acquisition to be a case of Popperian learning. In this way, we are not born know-alls; we are born knowing nothing but able to learn anything and this is why we can find ways to think and talk about a world that goes on changing.
Table of Contents
- Culture or biology?
- the original arguments for a language instinct
- the debate renewed
- language structure turns Queen's evidence
- the creative mind.
by "Nielsen BookData"