What's within? : nativism reconsidered /
This iconoclastic book reconsiders the influential nativist position toward the mind. Nativists assert that some concepts, beliefs, or capacities are innate or inborn: "native" to the mind rather than acquired. Fiona Cowie argues that this view is mistaken, demonstrating that nativism is a...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
Oxford University Press,
1999.
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| Series: | Philosophy of mind series.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | This iconoclastic book reconsiders the influential nativist position toward the mind. Nativists assert that some concepts, beliefs, or capacities are innate or inborn: "native" to the mind rather than acquired. Fiona Cowie argues that this view is mistaken, demonstrating that nativism is an unstable amalgam of two quite different - and probably inconsistent - theses about the mind. Unlike empiricists, who postulate domain-neutral learning strategies, nativists insist that some learning tasks require special kinds of skills, and that these skills are hard-wired into our brains at birth. This "faculties hypothesis" finds its modern expression in the views of Noam Chomsky. Cowie, marshaling recent empirical evidence from developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, computer science, and linguistics, provides a crisp and timely critique of Chomsky's nativism and defends in its place a moderately nativist approach to language acquisition. What's Within? is a clear and bold achievement in the study of the human mind, one which will surely provoke debate among philosophers of mind, cognitive scientists, linguists, and psychologists, as well as engage anyone interested in the nature of the mind |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xvii, 334 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-330) and index. |
| ISBN: | 0585255970 9780585255972 9780199849529 0199849528 9786610471553 661047155X |