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1、AReviewofB.F.Skinner'sVerbalBehaviorNoamChomskyInLeonA.JakobovitsandMurrayS.Miron(eds.),ReadingsinthePsychologyofLanguage,Prentice-Hall,1967,pp.142-143PrefaceRereadingthisreviewaftereightyears,IfindlittleofsubstancethatIwouldchangeifIweretowriteittoday.Iamnotawareofanytheoreticalorexpe
2、rimentalworkthatchallengesitsconclusions;nor,sofarasIknow,hastherebeenanyattempttomeetthecriticismsthatareraisedinthereviewortoshowthattheyareerroneousorill-founded.IhadintendedthisreviewnotspecificallyasacriticismofSkinner'sspeculationsregardinglanguage,butratherasamoregeneralcritique
3、ofbehaviorist(Iwouldnowprefertosay"empiricist")speculationastothenatureofhighermentalprocesses.MyreasonfordiscussingSkinner'sbookinsuchdetailwasthatitwasthemostcarefulandthoroughgoingpresentationofsuchspeculations,anevaluationthatIfeelisstillaccurate.Therefore,iftheco
4、nclusionsIattemptedtosubstantiateinthereviewarecorrect,asIbelievetheyare,thenSkinner'sworkcanberegardedas,ineffect,areductioadabsurdumofbehavioristassumptions.Mypersonalviewisthatitisadefinitemerit,notadefect,ofSkinner'sworkthatitcanbeusedforthispurpose,anditwasforthisreasonth
5、atItriedtodealwithitfairlyexhaustively.Idonotseehowhisproposalscanbeimprovedupon,asidefromoccasionaldetailsandoversights,withintheframeworkofthegeneralassumptionsthatheaccepts.Idonot,inotherwords,seeanywayinwhichhisproposalscanbesubstantiallyimprovedwithinthegeneralframeworkofbehavioristorneobe
6、haviorist,or,moregenerally,empiricistideasthathasdominatedmuchofmodernlinguistics,psychology,andphilosophy.TheconclusionthatIhopedtoestablishinthereview,bydiscussingthesespeculationsintheirmostexplicitanddetailedform,wasthatthegeneralpointofviewwaslargelymythology,andthatitswidespreadacceptance
7、isnottheresultofempiricalsupport,persuasivereasoning,ortheabsenceofaplausiblealternative.IfIwerewritingtodayonthesametopic,IwouldtrytomakeitmoreclearthanIdidthatIwasdiscussingSkinner'sproposalsasaparadigmexampleofafutiletendencyinmodernspeculationaboutlanguageandmind.Iwouldalsobesomewh
8、atlessa
