Overview

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. He 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Wolfram Hinzen (, Professor of Philosophy, University of Durham)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 24.20cm
Weight:   0.623kg
ISBN:  

9780199274413

ISBN 10:   019927441
Pages:   314
Publication Date:   23 February 2006
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Part I: Naturally Human 1: Introduction 1.1: Humans as natural objects 1.2: The study of human nature 1.3: Human design 1.4: The fate of human nature in the twentieth century 2: Against metaphysical naturalism 2.1: From methodological to metaphysical naturalism 2.2: Rationalist method from Galileo to Chomsky 2.3: Double standards 3: Biological internalism 3.1: Biology before unification 3.2: Mind as function: A critique 3.3: God or natural selection or . . . ? 3.4: 3.4 Epilogue on explanation and necessity Part II: Deducing Variation 4: Prior to function 4.1: Language growth 4.2: Language and communication 4.3: Language as a social construct 5: Beyond the autonomy of syntax 5.1: What is syntax? 5.2: Explanation in linguistic theory 5.3: Human phrase structure 5.4: Transforming the phrase 5.5: Why is there movement? 5.6: The proper interpretation of LF/SEM Part III: Rational Mind 6: Good Design! 6.1: Phases and cascades: Beyond LF 6.2: Epistemology for mental organs Conclusions References

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Author Information

Wolfram Hinzen is a senior lecturer at the Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation and a member of the Cognitive Science Center at the University of Amsterdam. He was previously at the Institute for Philosophy, University of Regensburg. He is the co-editor with Hans Rott of Belief and Meaning: Essays at the Interface (Berlin: Hänsel-Hohenhausen, 2002) and the author of The Semantic Foundations of Anti-Realism (Berlin: Logos 1998). His next book An Essay on Naming and Truth will be published by OUP in October 2006.

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