About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100195123840

ISBN-139780195123845

eBay Product ID (ePID)1146885

Product Key Features

Number of Pages352 Pages

Publication NameWhat's Within? : Nativism Reconsidered

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year1998

SubjectHistory & Theory, Movements / Phenomenology, Linguistics / General

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaPolitical Science, Philosophy, Language Arts & Disciplines

AuthorFiona Cowie

SeriesPhilosophy of Mind Ser.

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.2 in

Item Weight24.7 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

LCCN98-005364

Reviews"The terrain [Cowie] does cover...is vast; and [her] illuminating discussions will stimulate anyone interested in the area." --The Philoshopical Review., "The terrain [Cowie] does cover...is vast; and [her] illuminatingdiscussions will stimulate anyone interested in the area." --The PhiloshopicalReview.

Dewey Edition21

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal149/.7

SynopsisThis powerfully 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. Also in contrast to empiricists, who view the mind as simply another natural phenomenon susceptible of scientific explanation, nativists suspect that the mental is inelectably mysterious. Cowie addresses this second strand in nativist thought, taking on the view articulated by Jerry Fodor and other nativists that learning, particularly concept acquisition, is a fundamentally inexplicable process. Cowie challenges this explanatory pessimism, and argues convincingly that concept acquisition is psychologically explicable. What's Within? is a clear and provocative achievement in the study of the human mind., The nativism controversy is not simply to be identified with the debate over "nature vs. nurture." Instead, it concerns two questions of pressing concern to the cognitive scientist, namely, whether human learning is psychologically explicable at all, and, if it is, whether inborn, task-specific learning mechanisms need be postulated in that explanation. Re-examining the nativisms of Chomsky and Fodor in light of this understanding, What's Within? reveals their strengths -- and weaknesses., This powerfully 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-neutrallearning 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 modernexpression 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. Also in contrast to empiricists, who view the mind as simply another natural phenomenon susceptible of scientific explanation, nativists suspect that the mental isinelectably mysterious. Cowie addresses this second strand in nativist thought, taking on the view articulated by Jerry Fodor and other nativists that learning, particularly concept acquisition, is afundamentally inexplicable process. Cowie challenges this explanatory pessimism, and argues convincingly that concept acquisition is psychologically explicable. What's Within? is a clear and provocative achievement in the study of the human mind.

LC Classification NumberBF341.C68 1998