Language and Mind: Enlarged Edition by Chomsky, Noam

New York. 1972. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Enlarged Edition. Very Good in Wrappers. 0155492578. 194 pages. paperback. FROM THE PUBLISHER - In science there have been many battles. Science is a history of battles between Big Names, giants struggling for their places in history. Priority wars are illustrations of one kind of war, but disputes are not limited to those about credit being properly awarded. Here is a case of substantial warfare, where two theorists are disputants as to meaning. They are holders of different assumptions, they use different theories, and the ideas they espouse are incommensurate one with another. Of course they do battle; they completely misunderstand one another. The case in point involves the disputants B. F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky. The battle is about language. Skinner had delivered lectures and published them in Verbal Behavior in which he tried to explain language with reference to operant behavior. That was in 1959. Of course there were many attacks on Skinner immediately following his book; this coup de grace was delivered much later. The arguments against Skinner are hardly even stated in this book. It is assumed that readers understand Chomsky's position. Moreover, Chomsky is not only arguing with Skinner but with all behavioral science and scientists who have tried to make language into something to fit their models. This book suggests that language in its simplest forms is anything but a simple repetition of sounds which have been rewarded. Language has a structure and a dynamic which transcend the operant conditioning model. inventory #18539 ISBN: 0155492578.