Chomsky: ideas and ideals

Noam Chomsky continues to be one of the most influential intellectual figures of modern times. His wide-ranging contributions to the fields of linguistics, psychology, philosophy and politics have revolutionised our view of language, the mind and human nature. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, this book explores Chomsky's key theories, especially recent developments in his Minimalist Program, addressing issues such as: how do we know a language? How do children acquire this knowledge? How did language evolve? This third edition has been expanded and thoroughly updated and includes an exploration of Chomsky's contributions to philosophy and psychology, outlining the impact of his radical and often controversial views. It concludes with an account of his political activism and his critique of recent developments such as the Arab Spring, Wikileaks and the Occupy movement. There is also a new section covering his views on climate change and nuclear disarmament.

Introduction -- Chomsky's achievement -- Inspiration and influence -- 1. The mirror of the mind -- Linguistics as science -- Modularity -- Competence and performance -- Performance, parsing, and pragmatics -- Evolution and innateness -- Natural language and the language of thought -- Summary -- 2. The linguistic foundation -- Introduction -- Knowledge of language -- Descriptive adequacy -- Towards explanatory adequacy -- Beyond explanatory adequacy -- Taking stock: the historical progression -- 3. Language and psychology -- Casuality and explanation -- Psychological reality and the nature of evidence -- Language processing -- Language acquisition (Plato's problem) -- Language pathology -- The behaviorists strike back -- Conclusions -- 4. Philosophical realism : commitments and controversies -- Introduction -- Commitments -- Controversies -- Conclusions -- 5. Language and freedom - Explanation and dissent: the common threads -- Rationality, creativity, and modularity -- The anarchist background -- The critique of (American) foreign policy -- 9/11: terrorism and the "war on terror" -- The critique of domestic policy -- Prospects for survival -- The critique of media control -- The t…