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How did Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar influence philosophers interested in language?
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Philosophy of language
An Austrian stamp depicting Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar significantly influenced the philosophy of language by shifting the focus toward the biological and cognitive foundations of human communication.12
His work helped initiate the "cognitive revolution," challenging the idea that language is learned solely through experience. Key influences on philosophers include:12
- Innate Knowledge: Chomsky’s "poverty of the stimulus" argument—which posits that children acquire complex linguistic systems despite limited and often defective input—led philosophers to reconsider the role of innate mental structures. This suggested that language is a biologically based, domain-specific mental module.213
- Rule-Governed Syntax: Philosophers widely adopted the view that natural languages are governed by formal, recursive systems of rules. This spurred a "second golden age" of formal studies in semantics, as scholars investigated how these rules allow humans to generate and interpret an infinite number of meaningful sentences.32
- Cognitive Integration: By framing language as a computational system that interacts with other cognitive faculties, Chomsky influenced the philosophy of mind, encouraging a view of human nature where language is central to our unique cognitive flexibility and ability to coordinate thought.13