Mind design and minimal syntax / Wolfram Hinzen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hinzen, Wolfram.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Generative grammar.

Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax.

Grammar, Comparative and general.

Thought and thinking.

Physical Description:

xvi, 297 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

This book introduces generative grammar as an area of study and asks what it tells us about the human mind. Wolfram Hinzen lays the foundation for the unification of modern generative linguistics with the philosophies of mind and language. He introduces Chomsky's program of a 'minimalist' syntax as a novel explanatory vision of the human mind. The explains how the Minimalist Program originated in work in cognitive science, biology, linguistics, and philosophy, and examines its implications for work in these fields. He considers the way the human mind is designed when seen as an arrangement of structural patterns in nature, and argues that its design is the product not so much of adaptive evolutionary history as of principles and processes that are ahistorical and internalist in character. Linguistic meaning, he suggests, arises in the mind as a consequence of structures emerging on formal rather than functional grounds. From this he substantiates an unexpected and deeply unfashionable notion of human nature.

Clearly written in nontechnical language and assuming a limited knowledge of the fields it examines and links, Minimal Mind Design will appeal to a wide range of scholars in linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. It also provides an exceptionally clear insight into the nature and aims of Chomsky's Minimalist Program.

Contents:

Part I Naturally Human

1.1 Humans as natural objects 3

1.2 The study of human nature 11

1.3 Human design 24

1.4 The fate of human nature in the twentieth century 32

2 Against metaphysical naturalism 55

2.1 From methodological to metaphysical naturalism 55

2.2 Rationalist method from Galileo to Chomsky 66

2.3 Double standards 79

3 Biological internalism 89

3.1 Biology before unification 89

3.2 Mind as function: A critique 95

3.3 God or natural selection or...? 105

3.4 Epilogue on explanation and necessity 110

Part II Deducing Variation

4 Prior to function 117

4.1 Language growth 117

4.2 Language and communication 128

4.3 Language as a social construct 139

5 Beyond the autonomy of syntax 150

5.1 What is syntax? 150

5.2 Explanation in linguistic theory 161

5.3 Human phrase structure 170

5.4 Transforming the phrase 194

5.5 Why is there movement? 208

5.6 The proper interpretation of LF/SEM 220

Part III Rational Mind

6 Good Design! 239

6.1 Phases and cascades: Beyond LF 239

6.2 Epistemology for mental organs 250.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [278]-293) and index.

ISBN:

019927441X

0199289255

OCLC:

62796066