The Study Of Chomsky's Views Of Mental Representation

Mental representation is one of the core themes in philosophy of cognition,and it has remained a mystery since ancient times.Descartes' contact mechanics didn't solve the problem of “thinking substance” and the creativity of language.Newton's theory of gravitation did find the key to mechanical problems,however,it did not work for either the creativity of language or the mind.Humboldt explicated language creativity with “the infinite use of the finite means”,but he did not hit the core of the problem,instead,he replaced the same problem with a different term.Problems remain problems.It is Chomsky who stood up to face this challenge and went against behaviorism.He launched a cognitive revolution,and began to study the faculty of language,the core aspect of mental representation.This dissertation mainly focuses itself on mental representation studied by Chomsky and on several problems related to mental representation.This present study deals with six problems and put them in different parts for explication.First,mental representation can be dated back to the scholastic school.Monism and dualism are two main approaches to the target problem.Chomsky's study is of rationalism,inherited from Descartes.He gets access to mind through language.His rationalism finds its origin,resurfacing Decartes' rationalism,with the creativity to be the point of departure.Chomsky's universal grammar can be dated back to Port-Royal grammar;his deep structure and surface structure has some history as well;and his generative theory was based on Humboldt's infinite use of finite means.Second,he approaches the representation by means of the natural inquiry,which is the problem of the mind computation.Then whether can mind be seen as a natural phenomenon? If it is,then can mind be computed? Methodological naturalism is the main scientific methodology for the study of natural phenomena.Suppose mental representation can be computed,then can intentionality be computed? If it can,then does it mean intentionality can be interpreted in terms of methodological naturalism? This part explains the feasibility of naturalizing intentionality by means of answering the above mentioned questions.Third,his study of mind is of natural inquiry.Methodological naturalism is the approach to study natural phenomena,and can it be used to study mental representation? Is the mind of natural phenomena? Canit be computed? Can the representation include intentionality? Fourth,the answers to these questions make intentionality one of his main concerns.He mainly attempts to interpret intentionality within the framework of Computational Representational Theory of Thought.However,his interpretation of intentionality encounters the challenge,which is caused by what the concept of representation is or by the term itself? If it is the concept that causes problems,then should Chomsky discard intentionality? And is intentionality a necessity to mental representation? Does his abandoning intentionality mean he subscribes reductionism? Fifth,whether mental representation can be reduced to physics is a problem that philosophy cannot avoid but cannot find any solution.Then how can Chomsky deal with the reduction of mental representation? His critique of physicalism can find full expression in Newtonian revolution.Does Chomsky do the same like Newton? Is he skeptical of physicalism? Does he insist on methodological naturalism? Then how about consciousness? Is mind the same as consciousness or are they different from each other? Should they be treated differently? Sixth,Chomsky's mental representation regards language faculty as the point of departure,and this is oriented toward Chomsky's hypothesis of Universal Grammar.Based on this,can the hypothesis proves that human beings have a language organ where our faculty of language is located.Then can the language organ be independent of other cognitive abilities? Is it affected by other cognitive abilities? This part attempts to propose some evidence to show the problems mental modularity may bring about,and tries to propose holograph and system theory to rescue modularity.Seventh,Chomskyan paradigm has its scopes and limits.His theory was objected by many philosophers and linguists.Definitely,his scientific study of mind and language started a new era in linguistics,and his contributions can never be ignored.However,his metaphysical naturalism and his attempt to naturalizing intentionality are both the limits to his theory.Mental representation needs explaining in terms of other theories,either the findings in the study of vision or in the study of language.