Publisher's Synopsis
In this book, Trevor Pateman draws on work in realist philosophy of science, social theory, philosophy of language, and in theoretical and empirical linguistics to conceptualize the life of language in mind and society. The result is a set of meditations on the theme of nature and culture, in which the author explores what kind of social theory of language can be built in conjunction with Chomskyan nativism and contemporary cognitive science. The results are extended into the theory of ideology, and defended against positivist positions in linguistics and Wittgensteinian arguments in philosophy.;The book includes detailed discussions of the philosophical work of such thinkers as Saul Kripke and David Lewis , of linguists including Henning Andersen , Noam Chomsky , and Roger Lass , and is written in dialogue with the work of such social theorists as Roy Bhaskar , Anthony Giddens , and Jurgen Habermas .;It is aimed at linguists, philosophers of language and social theorists.
