Linguistic innateness on a priori logical grounds
Linguistic innateness on a priori logical grounds

Summary/Abstract: Since the cognitive revolution of 1960’s wrought in through the pioneering work of Noam Chomsky, there have been a number of influential a posteriori and empirical arguments in favour of linguistic innateness, including Chomsky’s own argument from the poverty of the stimulus. In pursuit of the same goal, Jerry Fodor has been forging a number of a priori and logical arguments in support of innateness of language. Following a brief historical overview of the fluctuating fortunes of cognitive nativism since its inception in the antiquity, the paper essays and assays two of Fodor’s a priori and logical arguments for the postulation of language as innate. The final part of the paper will briefly consider the interrelationships between Chomsky’s empirical evidence and Fodor’s a priori argumentation for linguistic innateness.

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