In his work ''

Aspects of the Theory of Syntax ''Aspects of the Theory of Syntax'' (known in linguistic circles simply as ''Aspects'') is a book on linguistics written by American linguist Noam Chomsky, first published in 1965. In ''Aspects'', Chomsky presented a deeper, more extensive reformu ...

'' (1965),

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

introduces a hierarchy of levels of adequacy for evaluating grammars (theories of specific languages) and metagrammars (theories of grammars). These levels constitute a

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

of theories (a grammar of a natural language being an example of such a theory) according to validation. This taxonomy might be extended to scientific theories in general, and from there even stretched into the field of the

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

of art. This present article's use of the phrase as a '' terminus technicus'' should not be confused with its everyday language uses.

Motivation

The "potency" criterion alluded to in the preceding section is somewhat ill-defined, but may include "exhaustiveness", "effectiveness', and an affective component as well. (Arguably, the taxonomy is also motivated by considerations of "

elegance Elegance is beauty that shows unusual effectiveness and simplicity. Elegance is frequently used as a standard of Taste (sociology), tastefulness, particularly in visual design, decorative arts, literature, science, and Mathematical beauty, the ...

". This should not be confused with the application of the taxonomy in the field of

). As a

metatheory A metatheory or meta-theory is a theory on a subject matter that is a theory in itself. Analyses or descriptions of an existing theory would be considered meta-theories. For mathematics and mathematical logic, a metatheory is a mathematical theo ...

, or "theory of theories", it becomes a concept of

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

in the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

, rather than a mere tool or

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

of scientific linguistics. As Chomsky put it in an earlier work:

The theory of linguistic structure must be distinguished clearly from a manual of helpful procedures for the discovery of grammars.

The levels

#Observational adequacy #*The theory achieves an exhaustive and discrete enumeration of the data points. #*There is a pigeonhole for each observation. #Descriptive adequacy #*The theory formally specifies rules accounting for all observed arrangements of the data. #*The rules produce all and only the well-formed constructs (relations) of the protocol space. #:

...the grammar gives a correct account of the linguistic intuition of the native speaker, and specifies the observed data (in particular) in terms of significant generalizations that express underlying regularities in the language.

#Explanatory adequacy #*The theory provides a principled choice between competing descriptions. #*It deals with the uttermost underlying structure. #*It has predictive power. #:

A linguistic theory that aims for explanatory adequacy is concerned with the internal structure of the device .e. grammar that is, it aims to provide a principled basis, independent of any particular language, for the selection of the descriptively adequate grammar of each language.

Theories which do not achieve the third level of adequacy are said to "account for the observations", rather than to "explain the observations." The second and third levels include the assumption of Ockhamist parsimony. This is related to the ''

Minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

'' requirement,Chomsky, 1995. which is elaborated as a

corollary In mathematics and logic, a corollary ( , ) is a theorem of less importance which can be readily deduced from a previous, more notable statement. A corollary could, for instance, be a proposition which is incidentally proved while proving another ...

of the levels, but which is actually employed as an

axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

Precursors in the philosophy of science

It is suggested that the system of levels proposed by Chomsky in ''Aspects of the Theory of Syntax'' has its antecedents in the works of Descartes,

Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...

Carnap Rudolf Carnap (; ; 18 May 1891 – 14 September 1970) was a German-language philosopher who was active in Europe before 1935 and in the United States thereafter. He was a major member of the Vienna Circle and an advocate of logical positivism. ...

Quine Quine may refer to: * Quine (computing), a program that produces its source code as output * Quine's paradox, in logic * Quine (surname), people with the surname ** Willard Van Orman Quine (1908–2000), American philosopher and logician See al ...

, and others. Certainly the criterion of adequacy found in

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

, specifically, rational

empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

, bear some resemblance to Chomsky's formulation. Since one of the key issues which Chomsky treats in ''Aspects'' is a supposition of a congenital endowment of the language faculty in humans, the topic ramifies into questions of innateness and ''

a priori ('from the earlier') and ('from the later') are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, Justification (epistemology), justification, or argument by their reliance on experience. knowledge is independent from any ...

'' knowledge, since it is by reference to those questions that the third level of adequacy is to be sought.

Note

This concept should not be confused with the "

causal adequacy principle The causal adequacy principle (CAP), or causal reality principle, is a philosophical claim made by René Descartes that the cause of an object must contain at least as much reality as the object itself, whether formally or eminently. Overview Des ...

," which refers to Descartes' version of the

ontological argument In the philosophy of religion, an ontological argument is a deductive philosophical argument, made from an ontological basis, that is advanced in support of the existence of God. Such arguments tend to refer to the state of being or existing. ...

for the existence of God in his ''

Meditations on First Philosophy ''Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated'' (), often called simply the ''Meditations'', is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. T ...

''.

Bibliography

*Chomsky, Noam. 1957. ''Syntactic Structures''. The Hague: Mouton. *Chomsky, Noam. 1964. "Current Issues in Linguistic Theory", in Fodor, J. A. and J. J. Katz (eds.), ''The Structure of Language: Readings in the Philosophy of Language'', Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall: 50-118. *Chomsky, Noam. 1965. ''Aspects of the Theory of Syntax.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts MIT Press. *Chomsky, Noam. 1995. ''The Minimalist Program.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. *Chomsky, Noam. 2000. ''New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

External links

*Boeckx, Cedric, and Norbert Hornstein.''The Varying Aims of Linguistic Theory.'' Online version a

accessed 2006-04-19. Epistemology Grammar Noam Chomsky Theories of language