Foucault and Chomsky on Grammar and Governmentality

This essay explores the use of the notions of grammar and governmentality in the work of Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky. The goal is to exhibit the contrast but also mutual influence of these thinkers. Chomsky places his own linguistic theory in what he calls a tradition of Cartesian linguistics. Foucault’s presents an archaeology of general grammar in the French Classical Era. Chomsky and Foucault equally posit principles of governmentality. Both differ in terms of what they think the study of language brings to our understanding of ethical and political freedom. Governmental structure and grammatical structure, for Foucault, are always conventional, rather than essential – merely expressions of power dynamics. For Chomsky, the innate and natural human universality implied by underlying structures, in contrast, intimates a path to freedom from governmental coercion and oppression.

O clima da época em torno do conceito de discurso na gramática de Port-Royal

Este artigo pretende traçar o clima da época para o conceito de discurso na Gramática de Port-Royal (GPR) quanto ao que se pensava no século XVII sobre o “bom uso” da língua, delimitando a relevância desse texto fundador (COLOMBAT; FOURNIER; PUECH, 2010) no panorama da História das Ideias sobre a Linguagem. Publicada em 1660, a GPR tornou-se famosa por ser considerada um trabalho pioneiro na área da Filosofia da Linguagem. Seus autores pretendiam propor um estudo filosófico e racional da linguagem. A GPR contrastava com a tônica dos estudos linguísticos da época, sintonizados com a preocupação acerca da questão do “bom uso” (bon usage) da língua, compreendido meramente em termos estilísticos. Tal recorte se mostrou necessário devido à generalidade com a qual se investia o conceito de discurso, visto como sinônimo de fala/uso, que deve ser regulado por regras, e influenciou o referencial teórico da Gramática Gerativo-Transformacional de Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky, Hernstein e os limites da pesquisa científica

O presente artigo foi elaborado a partir do debate entre Noam Chomsky e Richard Herstein sobre os limites da pesquisa científica e as questões éticas inerentes à atividade de pesquisa científica. A questão norteadora que permeia o presente artigo busca responder: A atuação do pesquisador deveria ser ilimitada mesmo em pesquisas no qual a conclusão irá causar impacto social negativo que supera os benefícios da pesquisa? A partir da análise textual e a leitura comparada dos dois autores, o presente artigo responde a problemática que se propõe com a conclusão de que a pesquisa científica, mesmo quando potencialmente danosa, não deve ser controlada ou limitada por autoridade externa, mas sim, cabe ao próprio autor decidir sobre a publicação ou não da pesquisa, valorizando enquanto pesquisador a ética profissional e social de sua atividade.

Od natury słowa do słowa o naturze. Recenzja książki Bolesława Andrzejewskiego pt. Filozofia słowa. Zarys dziejów

Herethis paper is review on monographical pulication „Filozofia słowa. Zarys dziejów” [The Philosophy of the Word. A Short History] by Bolesław Andrzejewski. The Polish philosopher’s book is one and only publication which dares to present and contrast concepts and theories on the word which appears in the history of Western Civilisation from the times of ancient Greek philosophers, through Christian thinkers and German romantics and representants of Enlightenment, ending with English and American pragmatists and positivists, not to omit prominent linguists like Ferdynand de Saussure, Noam Chomsky, Ernst Cassirer or Wilhelm von Humboldt. Original view of the author on philosophy of language makes the reviewed book unique, since Andrzejewski tries to break through the analytic, so common nowadays, paradigm and proposes to run the consideration concerning language in the spirit of lingua ac communitas, so to speak, he treats language basically as a tool for interpersonal communication and a way of gaining understanding within community.

Opis struktur syntaktycznych we wczesnych pracach Zenona Klemensiewicza i Noama Chomskiego

Description of syntactic structures in the early works of Zenon Klemensiewicz and Noam Chomsky The article focuses on the early works of Z. Klemensiewicz (mostly Składnia opisowa współczesnej polszczyzny kulturalnej, 1937), and N. Chomsky (mainly Syntactic Structures, 1957). These authors come from different linguistic paradigms: structural linguistics, and generative linguistics, respectively. Despite that, their ideas have strong similarities, and although there is no reason to consider Klemensiewicz’s work as a direct inspiration for Chomsky, it seems quite reasonable to argue that different schools of linguistic thought were at times literally one step away from pioneering the generative paradigm. Keywords: Polish language studies, generative linguistics, N. Chomsky, Z. Klemensiewicz, structural linguistics

SCIENTIFIC LINGUISTICS, A NEVER-ENDING HISTORY

1866 was a turning point in scientific linguistics when the Linguistic Society of Paris banned all papers and presentations on the origin of language. De Saussure locked up the debate with two concepts, diachrony and synchrony. I intend to examine the emergence of the hypothesis of a single origin of human articulated languages, in Africa first, and then Black Africa. The phylogenic approach of biological studies has today spread to linguistics. Sally McBrearty rejected the idea of a Neolithic revolution. Consequently, Black Africa became a major field of archaeological research. Yuval Noah Harari stating the existence of a symbolic revolution around 70,000 years ago, rejected Black Africa along with the Americas, and the Denisovans. Asia has become a major archaeological field. Julien d’Huy implements phylogenetic arborescent technique to the study of myths. The oldest form of a myth is not the origin of it. In oral civlizations some literate individual had to tell the story behind representations for the people to understand, appreciate, and remember them. I will then consider structural linguistics (Noam Chomsky & Universal Grammar). UG has never been able to develop semantics within its own system (Generative Semantics & George Lakoff). Science is always a temporarily approximate vision of what it considers. First, what any science explores is constantly evolving following phylogenic dynamics that are contained in the very objects of such scientific studies. Second, any new knowledge appearing in the field concerned causes a complete restructuration of what we knew before.

Filosofía y ciencia: una definición, debates y preguntas

Se expone una serie de debates en torno a las relaciones entre filosofía y ciencia, resaltando las nociones de figuras intelectuales como las de Michel Foucault (filósofo), Noam Chomsky (lingüista), Alan Sokal (físíco) y Mauricio-José Schwarz (periodista y divulgador científico). Se presenta un breve perfil de cada uno de estos autores con el objetivo de problematizar sus aportes y plantear una la reflexión acerca de la distinción entre la búsqueda de la verdad como actividad filosófica y la verificación como actividad científica. Finalmente, a partir del análisis del llamado Escándalo Sokal, se discute la pertinencia de conservar las matrículas de las licenciaturas en Filosofía.

The Aftermath: Twenty-First Century Linguistics

This chapter revisits the major linguists of the Generative/Interpretive Semantics dispute (except Noam Chomsky, who fittingly gets his own chapter): Robin Lakoff, George Lakoff, Haj Ross, Paul Postal, and Jim McCawley, noting both their contributions and their post-dispute trajectories. It also charts out two broad legacies of the Generative Semantics movement: a number of technical proposals that arose in that framework which found themselves in other formal linguistic models, prominently including those associated with Chomsky; and the general “Greening of Linguistics”: a range of functional, cognitive, and usage-based approaches whose origins trace to the Generative Semanticists’ rejection of defining Chomskyan values.

Language, Thought, and the Linguistics Wars

This chapter provides brief overviews of the role that language plays in culture and thought, of the job that linguists do to investigate the roles that language plays, and of the dispute among linguists that forms the narrative core of this book, as well as introducing the linguists who drove that dispute: Noam Chomsky, Ray Jackendoff, Robin and George Lakoff, Jim McCawley, Paul Postal, and Haj Ross. That dispute hinged on the relative significance of linguistic structure and linguistic meaning for the way we understand language and its relation to thought.