Volume 49, Number 3 · February 28, 2002
End of the Revolution
By John R. Searle
New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind
by Noam Chomsky
Cambridge University Press, 230 pp., $60.00; $20.00 (paper)
Almost three decades ago I reviewed in these pages a striking development in the study of language that I called 'Chomsky's Revolution in Linguistics.'[1] After such a long time it would seem appropriate to assess the results of the revolution. This article is not by itself such an assessment, because to do an adequate job one would require more knowledge of what happened in linguistics in these years than I have, and certainly more than is exhibited by Chomsky's new book. But this much at least we can say. Judged by the objectives stated in the original manifestoes, the revolution has not succeeded. Something else may have succeeded, or may eventually succeed, but the goals of the original revolution have been altered and in a sense abandoned. I think Chomsky would say that this shows not a failure of the original project but a redefinition of its goals in ways dictated by new discoveries, and that such redefinitions are typical of ongoing scientific research projects.
Review, 5413 words
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