Language and Thought

96 Pages·1993·13.45 MB·english

by  Noam Chomsky

THE FRICKC OLLECTION
AnshenT ransdisciplinary
Art,
Lecturesihni ps Scienacned
theP hilosoopfhC yu lture
MONOGRAPH THREE
PrevioPuusbllyi shed:
MoNoGRAOPNEH
THE REALD ISCOVEROFY A MERICA:
MExic;o, No8VE,M B1E5R1 9
by
HughT homas
MoNoGRTAwPoH
THEO RIGIOFN THEU NIVERSE
AND THE ORIGINOF RELIGION
by
SirF reHdo yle
LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
byNo am Chomsky
MOY.ER BELL
WAKEFIEW, RHODE ISLAND& LONDON
PublishebydM oyerB ell
Copyright©1 993b yT heF rick Collection
All righretsse rved. No parotf t hipsu blication
maybe reproduced ortran smittedi n anoyr mf
or by anym-eans,e lectronoirc m echanical,
inculdingp hotocopyingr,e cordionrgan y infor­
mationre trieval system, withoutp ermissioinn
writing froMmoye r BeD,K ymboldeW ay,W ake­
fieldRh,od e Islan0d2 87o9r 1 12S ydneRyoa d-,
Muswell Hill,Lo ndonN lO 2RN.
LffiRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOGIN�IN-PUBUCATION DATA
ChomskNy,oam .
Language and thoughtb yI Noam
Chomsky.
p. em. - (Anshentran sdisci­
plinalreyc tureshiipnsart , science,
and thep hilosophyo f culture :
monograph3 )
Includbeisb liographirecalf erences( p.).
1.Psych olinguistics. 2. Language
and language&-Pbil050phy. 3. Thought
and thinking. I. TiItlIeSe..ri es.
P37.C5146994
401'.9--dc20 93-36148
CIP
ISBN 1-55921.{)7(6-p1b 1) 995
Printedi n Uthne iStetadtes Amof erica
Distributed in Northby PAmuebrilcias hers
Group West, P.O.E mBoexryvi CA884ll 3e9, 46 62,
800-788-3(1in2 3Calif orn5ia1 1).658-3453and) in
Europe Gazebyll eBo ok Services Ltd., Falcon
House,Q ueSqeuanre Uln,cas ter LAl lRN Eng­
land 524-68765.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 7
PREFACE 9
LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT 13
DISCUSSION 55
ERICW ANNER (MODERATOR) 57
AKEEL BILGRAMI 57
GEORGE MILLER 68
JAMES H. SCHWARTZ 71
CONCLUSION 78
NOAM CHOMSKY 78
RUTH NANDA ANSHEN 93
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 94
INTRODUCTION
On theo ccasion oft hitsh irAdn shenT randsi sci­
plinaLreyc turienA rtS,c iencaen,d t heP hilosopohfy
CulturIe a,m pleasetdo w elcomey ou toT he Frick
CollectIitoi nsa. n honor to greet yooun behaloffo ur
Trusteeasn do ur staffO.n cea gainw e ared rawnb yD r.
RuthA nshenr'esm arkabvlies iotnh,i tsi met oe xplore
questioonfls an guage andt houghtw ithon e oft hem ost
celebratmeods,t p rovocattihvien keorfso ura ge.D r.
Noam Chomskyh asfr equentlcyh allenguesd i n his
discussioofcn osn temporsarocyia la ndp olitical behav­
iorH.e r emainasf o remostc hallenrgeegra rdiqnuge stions
oflanguaagnedl inguisatnidch se,n od oubwti lplr ovide
a forhtrighta ndi nvigorating invesitgatoint onight.
Ino rdetrof acilitthaedt ies cussfioollonw ingD rC.h om­
sky'tsa lkwe, have agthered ont hes tagsee verpaelr sons
whow ilrle ply toh im.T hel eadero ft hidsi scusswiiolnl
beD r.E riWca nnerp,r esideonftt h eR usseSlalg eF oun­
dation, a distinguisschhoelda orf c ognitives cienacned a
leadeirn v ariousp rogramcso ncerninbge haviorsacli -
7
INTRODUCTION
encesH.e wilble j oinebdy t hreper ofesswohrosa rea lso
presenotn the platformw ithu s:D r.A keelB ilgrami,
Dr.
Professoofr P hilosopahty C olumbiUan iversity;
of Uni­
GeorgMei llePrr,o fessoPrs ycholoagtPy r inceton
v t; of
ersiyandD r.J ameSsc hwartz,P rofessoNre uroloagty
t o
he Cllgee ofP hysiciaannds S urgeonCso,l umbiUan i­
versiatlys,wo e llkn own asa philosopahnedra linguist.
Thef irsttwloe cturients h isse riaerse a lreaidnyp rint:
oneb y LordH ughT homasw,h o spokea boutT heR eal
Discoveoryf A mericaan;d S irF redH oylet'asl okn The
Origionft heU niverasned t heO rigionfR eligigoinv,e an
yeaarg oo,n A pri2l,1 992w,h ichh asj usbte enp ublished.
Dr.A nshenh asg uidetdh ester ansdisciplleicntaruyr es
withi ndefatigcaobnlcee rfno re verpya rto ft hep rocess.
Hero wn mostr ecenbto okM,o ralEsq ualMsa nnersw,as
and
alsop ublishweidt hitnh ey ear, hasb eenr eceived
widelwyi tha cclami Sheh asb eena tt heh earotf a ltlh e
.
planninfgo rt hiesv eninPgh.i losopmhayth,e matictsh,e
in
sciencgeesn eraarlel yh eld herl ifwei thth e same kind
of
ofg rackneo,w ledgei,n tuitiaonndq, u icknessm inda s
music.
are histortyh,e s ociaslc ienceasr,ta ,n d Ruth
in u
Ansheni sa rare-nao ,u nique-beareorr o wn time
oft hea ncienGtr eeks piriotft, h eG reekp hilosophical
soulW.e are mosth appyt oh aveh ero peno ur proceed-
" itnogdasy .
-CharlesR yskamp
8
PREFACE
Sincwee area lpll ungeidnl anguagnee,c essiist y
laiudp onm e tos ayt hef ollowifnegww ords;
Ifan y singlceo ncerdni stinguipsrheesse sncth olarisn
alld iscipliintei ssa, concentraotfia otnt entuipoonn
languagbeu,t o nlyiti eachi solatdeids ciplCionnev.i nced
asI am , someo fo ur worscto ntempormaruyd dlearse due
tot heg enernaelg leocftl anguagaes a n instrumenotf
thought.
Languagiesf art ooi nteresatnidni gm portatnobt e l eft
toth e old-lipnhei loloogric sotn temporraerdyu ctionist.
Fort heries a unittyh astp rinfrgosm twoa ssumptions.
Onei st hathte connectiboent weetnh eh umanp syche
ands peecihs f ar morseu btlaned complicattheadn o ne
realizTehseo. th eri st halta nguatgheo,u gihti sb uto neo f
thew aysb y whichw e communicawtiet he acho ther,
conveynso to nlyth oughtb uta lsoe motiosno,t haat
merelrya tioannaally siosfl anguawgiel nlo m oree xplain
it thaa cnh emiceaxlp lanat.iooafn r oswei ldle finthee
rose.
9
PREFACE
Thoseo fu sw ho are loverosfw ordst,o w.h om a fine
phrsae bringas b lusohf r esponsken,o wt hawto rds are
mereloyn em edium throwuhgihc hw ee xpresso urc rying
outo,u rs alutatoiuorn d,is covery anodu ra ssentwthoa t
happentso u sfr om withiann dt ow hath appens tou s
from withouLti.k ael llo vewres a dda s·�ucahsw e cant o
whatw e loveW.e are notlo vers forn othinbgu,tf orli fe
itseIlw fi.l lt elylo ua shorstt ory:
Tormentbedy a spirittuhailr as ttr avelwlheorw as a
Prophewtan deredi na gloomy desewrhte n an angel
'
appeeard toh im att hec ross -arnodac dr id,e "Arise,
Propheatn,d g oo verl andan d seaa nd emblaztohnee
hearsto fp eoplwei tha Word.("S ow rote Pushkint,h e
Russian poet.A)n d asth at.a ncienGtr eekE pitomoef
wisdomH,e raclitsuais"d,D on otl siten tom e butt ot he
Word."
Thoughitts elmfu stb ea ccompanibeyd car iitcalu n­
derstandoiftn hge r elatioofln i nguisetxipcr esstioot nh e
deepearn dm ostp ersistiennttu itioofmn a n.I ti sb y
.
vittoufeth,ep rovocatpiovwee ro fl anguawghei chgr asps,
shakaensd,t ransfotrhmasht u man'b eingbse comeh u­
man.F orn othinrega lhluym anc anb es ow ithoutth is
meaningw,h ethetrh elanguagb!3e utteroerd s ileInnt .
thisJwhinayg,u agaes t hep owero funiversiasgl isv etno
-usi no rdetrh awte -mus' t-t rans:c eo.-nu- -dre _ -.n vironmeinnt ,
'• . '
orderthatwemhaayv ea wor..lT dhu sw,e aret hruinstto
a state ofunivermsoabli lityswien acttea cthh es wiftan d
restlfeosrsc oef o ur individeuxaiLs tentcote h er etarded
andm orem assivpeo weroflanguAangdef .o rt hitsh eries
onlyo nes ourcen,a melyt,h ev eryn aturem ionfd,
Ifw ords issuefrdo m an origiont.h tehra nm ind;fr om
one'nsa tivlea ndo,n e'cso untrtyh,e wyo uldhe borna nd
10