?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Induction%2C+evolution+and+accountability&rft.creator=Harnad%2C+Stevan&rft.subject=Theoretical+Biology&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Evolutionary+Psychology&rft.subject=Historical+Linguistics&rft.description=DISCUSSION+PAPER%3A%0A%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++HARNAD%3A++Let++me+just+ask+a+question+which+everyone+else+who+has+been+faithfully+attending%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++these+sessions+is+surely+burning+to+ask%3A+If+some+rules+you+have+described+constitute+universal%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++constraints+on+all+languages%2C+yet+they+are+not+learned%2C+nor+are+they+somehow++logically+necessary%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++a+priori%2C+how+did+language+get+that+way%3F+%0A%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++CHOMSKY%3A+Well%2C+it+seems+to+me+that+would+be+like+asking+the+question+how+does+the+heart+get%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++that+way%3F+I+mean+we+don't+learn+to+have+a+heart%2C+we+don't+learn+to+have+arms+rather+than+wings.%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++What+is+interesting+to+me+is+that+the+question+should+be+asked.+It+seems+to+be+a+natural+question%2C%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++everyone+asks+it.+And+we+should+ask%2C+why+people+ask+it.+%0A%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++My+feeling+is+that+if%2C+say%2C+the+Martian+that+I+was+imagining+were+to+look+at+earthlings+and%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++investigate+them+he+would+have+no+reason+to+doubt+that+language+is+as+much+an+organ+of+the%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++body+as+the+eye+or+the+heart+or+the+liver.+It's+strictly+characteristic+of+the+species%2C+has+a+highly%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++intricate+structure%2C+developed+more+or+less+independently+of+experience+in+very+specific+ways%2C+and%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++so+on.+It+has+all+the+general+properties+of+an+organ+of+the+body.+%0A%0A+++++++++++++++++++++++++Why+does+it+seem+so+strange+to+us+to+think+in+those+terms%3F+In+other+words%2C+why+does+it+seem+to+us%0A++++so+strange+to+us+to+consider+human+beings+in+the+mental+aspects+of+their+life+as+we+consider+any+object+of+the+natural+world%3F%0A++++Why+is+it+so+natural+to+insist+on+a+dichotomy+in+accordance+with+which+we+treat+the+physical+development+of+humans+as%0A++++belonging+to+the+physical+world%2C+but+not+their+mental+development%3F+%0A%0A++++My+own+feeling+is%2C+that+what+we+have+here+is+an+inversion+of+a+historical+tradition+that+really+ultimately+has+religious+and+other%0A++++roots.++Traditionally+it+was+regarded++as+impossible%2C+for+all+sorts+of+reasons%2C+to+study+the+human+soul+by+the+method+of+science.+%0A%0A++++Now%2C+what's+interesting+to+me+is%2C+precisely+within+those+tendencies+in+science+that+tried+to+be+naturalistic%2C+that+tried+to+defend%0A++++science+against+religions%2C+barbarism+and+so+on.+Precisely+in+those+branches+of+science+the+same+curious+refusal+to+deal+with+the%0A++++facts+persisted%2C+so+that+the+question+you+raise+seems+to+pose+an+overwhelming+paradox+to+an+investigator.+The+problem+seems%0A++++overwhelming%3A+to+explain+the+growth+of+this+particular+mental+organ%2C+human+language%2C+through+the+interaction+of+a+genetically%0A++++determined+system+with+experience%2C+although+analogous+questions+about+other+organs+do+not+seem+to+arise+with+the+same+force.+%0A%0A++++I+think+the+question+arises+in+the+case+of+language+exactly+as+it+does+in+the+case+of+the+eye%2C+the+heart+or+the+sexual+organs+(to+pick%0A++++something+that+matures+long+after+birth)+and+so+on.+There+is+every+reason+to+suppose+that+this+mental+organ%2C+human+language%2C%0A++++develops+in+accordance+with+its+genetically+determined+characteristics%2C+with+some+minor+modifications+that+give+one+language%0A++++or+another%2C+depending+on+experience.+But+than%2C+one+would+say+the+same+about+any+bodily+organ+as+far+as+I+can+see.+&rft.publisher=Annals+of+the+New+York+Academy+of+Sciences&rft.contributor=Harnad%2C+Stevan&rft.contributor=Steklis%2C+Horst+D.&rft.contributor=Lancaster%2C+Jane+B.&rft.date=1976&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F863%2F1%2Fharnad76.induction.htm&rft.identifier=++Harnad%2C+Stevan++(1976)+Induction%2C+evolution+and+accountability.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F863%2F