Hi y'all - I too have read very little of Chomsky - I was put off by his view that language is not influenced by natural selection. He advances the theory that language is a physical attribute rather than a biological. As a lover of memes, genes and evolution, I find that hard to swallow.
On Nov 25, 12:10 pm, "Jason (Memphis)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ornamentalmind, > > I think that my major criticism of Noam Chomsky is his lack of > scientific thinking especially making predictions or controlling > organisms. Most of what I've read are historical interpretations of > established facts and descriptions of something that has already > happened. He definitely has his facts in order. However, Noam seldom > attempts to make specific predictions of societal drifts that could be > verified--or at least he is not any better at predicting than other > historical experts. In addition, many of his followers do not > challenge what he says and most of what he says is said in such a way > that makes it hard to challenge (or test). Framing has been studied > extensively and the master of framing is Noam Chomsky himself. > > A particular (this is just one) criticism is that he wrote a review of > B.F. Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" (link below) and presented arguments > against Skinner that Skinner never claimed. I included Noam's case > against Skinner and a response by a behaviorist. Chomsky also accused > Skinner of advancing totalitarianism (much the same as Noam--directly > or indirectly--is accusing Obama). Yes, Skinner does advocate a > science of the behavior of organisms, which would embrace, explore, > refine and advance a scientific discipline to predict and control > organisms with scientific precision (including humans). That is what > Chomsky seems to fear (as do others including Skinner). The concept > of "freedom" or "free will" or the idea that humans are above the laws > of nature and therefore immune to scientific prediction and control is > a Western religion and Chomsky is sort of the Priest. At the end of > Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior," Skinner warned people that one > why to defend against the abuses of a science of human behavior is for > the masses to learn about how that science works and those scientific > techniques employed. Politicans and government have been working on a > science of human behavior for years (akin to Asimov's psycho- > history). The problem with Skinner is his ideal that such a > discipline should be transparent and open to the public and entire > scientific community. > > By the way, Chomsky (from the little I've read) is a fun read, and > he's a linguistic master. > > A Review of B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1959) by Noam Chomsky > > http://cogprints.org/1148/0/chomsky.htm > > On Chomsky’s Review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (Journal of the > Experimental Analysis of Behavior, volume 13, pages 83–99) > > http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/abstracts/jeababstracts/13/%2013-083... > > Jason --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
