Cowie on the Poverty of Stimulus

Author: Collins J.

Source: Synthese, Volume 136, Number 2, August 2003 , pp. 159-190(32)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

My paper defends the use of the poverty of stimulus argument (POSA) for linguistic nativism against Cowie's (1999) counter-claim that it leaves empiricism untouched. I first present the linguistic POSA as arising from a reflection on the generality of the child's initial state in comparison with the specific complexity of its final state. I then show that Cowie misconstrues the POSA as a direct argument about the character of the pld. In this light, I first argue that the data Cowie marshals about the pld does not begin to suggest that the POSA is unsound. Second, through a discussion of the so-called `auxiliary inversion rule', I show, by way of diagnosis, that Cowie misunderstands both the methodology of current linguistics and the complexity of the data it is obliged to explain.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Philosophy, SOC University of East Anglia (Norwich) Norwich, NR4 7TJ U.K. E-mail: jcollins42@compuserve.com

Publication date: 2003-08-01