Chomsky and His Critics

In this compelling volume, ten distinguished thinkers – William G. Lycan, Jeffrey Poland, Galen Strawson, Frances Egan, Georges Rey, Peter Ludlow, Paul Horwich, Paul M. Pietroski, Alison Gopnik, and Ruth Garrett Millikan – address a variety of conceptual issues raised in Noam Chomsky's work on mind and language.

Topics covered include:

• the ontological commitments inherent in a Chomskian approach to linguistic competence


• the possibility of systematic referential semantics for natural language


• whether we can learn anything about the foundations of language by adopting an evolutionary perspective


• whether the ‘theory theory’ in developmental psychology counters Chomsky's arguments for nativism


• the relevance and urgency of the mind–body problem in the post-Newtonian world.

These analyses are followed by substantial responses from Chomsky himself. The result is a provocative and engaging discussion of Chomsky’s work on questions of central importance to theories of mind and language.