Acta Linguistica Academica
Volume/Issue:
Volume 66: Issue 3
The inspirational role of Chomsky in the cognitive turn of psychology
Author:
Csaba Pléh Central European University, Budapest
Collegium de Lyon

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Pages:
397–428
Online Publication Date:
Sep 2019
Publication Date:
01 Sep 2019
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/2062.2019.66.3.5
Keywords:
Noam Chomsky; mentalism; theory theories; syntactic theories of mind; innatism; freedom and language
Full access

The paper reviews the role of Noam Chomsky in the conceptual changes in modern psychology that are described by many as the cognitive revolution. Several aspects of the work of Chomsky are identified as key elements in the changes regarding the human mind, and the determinants of human nature. The mentalism of Chomsky resulted in the general spread of theory theories about human development, where the human mind is interpreted as a theory-using open, creative system. The peculiarities of sequential behavioral organization and later the sequential interface issues as well as the concentration on (syntactic) pure form were important inspirations for several general theories of human cognition. Chomsky, with his differentiation between competence and performance, opened the road along with David Marr to multilayered computational theories of the mind. While the innatist commitments of Chomsky regarding human development created many fruitful controversies during half a century, they also tied the underdetermined nature of human language with the philosophical issues of freedom. Language with its innate recursive system is a basic factor of human freedom. Freedom is connected to a rational image of humanity.

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Cover Acta Linguistica Academica
Acta Linguistica Academica An International Journal of Linguistics
Print ISSN:
2559-8201
Online ISSN:
2560-1016

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Editor-in-Chief: András Cser

Editor: György Rákosi

Review Editor: Tamás Halm

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  • Anne Abeillé / Université Paris Diderot
  • Željko Bošković / University of Connecticut
  • Marcel den Dikken / Eötvös Loránd University; Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest
  • Hans-Martin Gärtner / Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest
  • Elly van Gelderen / Arizona State University
  • Anders Holmberg / Newcastle University
  • Katarzyna Jaszczolt / University of Cambridge
  • Dániel Z. Kádár / Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest
  • István Kenesei / University of Szeged; Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest
  • Anikó Lipták / Leiden University
  • Katalin Mády / Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest
  • Gereon Müller / Leipzig University
  • Csaba Pléh / Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Central European University
  • Giampaolo Salvi / Eötvös Loránd University
  • Irina Sekerina / College of Staten Island CUNY
  • Péter Siptár / Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest
  • Gregory Stump / University of Kentucky
  • Peter Svenonius / University of Tromsø
  • Anne Tamm / Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church
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  • Jeroen van de Weijer / Shenzhen University

 

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Acta Linguistica Academica
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