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email.uncc.edu>Smith, Neil (1999). Chomsky: Ideas and ideals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Paperback GBP 12.95. Reviewed by Christiane Bongartz, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The title of Neil Smith's book is the best possible summary of what the author sets out to do, namely to explore Noam Chomsky's intellectual and ideological contributions to contemporary linguistics, politics, and philosophy. Focusing on Chomsky's public thought and writing, not personal circumstance, Smith gives an overview of a life devoted to radical thought. Smith first introduces aspects of Chomsky's linguistic theory and then proceeds to present his political ideas. The linguistic and the political aspects of Chomsky's thinking, Smith argues, are inextricably linked and together represent a coherent framework for interpreting both human nature and the world. In short, ideas and ideals merge to form a new whole, Chomsky's oeuvre. Synopsis: After a brief assessment in the introduction of Chomsky's importance in the 20th century - which is compared to that of Darwin and Descartes - Smith devotes five chapters to providing evidence for this claim. While the first three chapters focus narrowly on linguistics, the fourth links linguistics and philosophy, laying the foundation for a comparison of Chomsky's language philosophy and his political convictions and activism in the fifth and final chapter. Chapter 1 "The mirror of the mind" introduces the reader to Chomsky's conceptualization of language as a species-defining genetically inherited phenomenon. Linguistics is thus part of the scientific investigation of human nature, an investigation that must go beyond linguistic description and explain how we know language. In other words, linguistic explanation reveals how our mind works with respect to individual psychological disposition, making grammar a part of our mental organization. Chapter 2 "The linguistic foundation" lays out the stages in the development of Chomsky's linguistic theory since its inception in the 1950s. Smith shows how the theory moved from grammar as a mere sentence-making mechanism to levels of syntactic representation (deep structure and surface structure) and then further to just a few minimal abstract principles governing syntactic movement. Increase in explanatory adequacy emerges as the motivating factor behind each new incarnation of the theory. Chapter 3 "Psychological reality" explores the link between language and psychology and cognition. Grammar and language rules can best be captured as biological facts that take the form of mental representations in the language module of our brain. Smith offers supporting evidence from language processing, first language acquisition, and studies of language pathology. Modular representational models are superior to connectionist models of linguistic knowledge, he claims, in that they do justice to language-specific principles such as structure-dependency. Chapter 4 "Philosophical realism: commitments and controversies" relates Chomsky's linguistic theory to the underlying philosophy of realism and the evaluative device of radical empiricism. Outlining some of the major controversies surrounding Chomskyan thought, Smith points to perceived misconceptions and misunderstandings that fuel(ed) such controversies. Chomsky's concept of language as part of individual psychology often remains unappreciated by those that view language as an external communication device. Smith argues that Chomskyan ideas have not been convincingly refuted in terms of big-picture considerations (the adequacy of a realism) nor in terms of small picture ones (banning semantics and pragmatics from the core of linguistic inquiry). Chapter 5 "Language and freedom" extends the scope of discussion to relate Chomsky's relentless political activism to the philosophical ideals prevalent in his academic work. Reviewing the many issues to which Chomsky has taken a public stance, Smith argues for a coherence of thought that movitates both his conceptualization of human nature and his depiction of what it takes for human nature to unfold optimally within the given biological constraints. Evaluation Smith's book differs from others reviewing Chomsky's oeuvre in that it embraces both the linguistic ideas (cf. Newmeyer, 1986) and political ideals (cf. Barsky, 1995) motivating his many writings. This dual orientation makes the book both original and somewhat unusual, leaving it to the reader to agree or disagree with the coherence that Smith has uncovered in the two areas of Chomsky's activities. Although the author writes accessibly and in everyday language, his presentation of the linguistic theory developed by Chomsky over the years can best be digested with some previous knowledge of syntactic theory. It is Smith's accomplishment to take apart the theory and present it according to lines of controversy in the field. Thus he separates theory development (chapters 1 and 2) from the issue of psychological reality (chapter 3), which allows him to draw on empirical evidence that illustrates how linguistic concepts are represented in the human psyche. Data from language acquisition and language impairment serve to defend Chomky's theoretical concepts (chapter 3, chapter 4, and chapter 5) - and explicating and defending the Chomskyan perspective is a goal Smith has very obviously set for himself. It is thus not surprising that the reader gets carefully equipped in the linguistics chapters for the discussion of the philosophical concepts underlying Chomsky's linguistic theory in chapter 4. Chapter 4 is perhaps the most ambitious of all. Although there are some problems with the overall structure (the division into subheadings seems somewhat arbitrary and is never explained), Smith does a fine job in highlighting the major lines of controversy concerning the embodiment of linguistic structure and the nature of language as a psychological phenomenon. Especially the discussion of language and the community as opposed to language in the individual is one worthwhile reading for those not familiar with this longstanding debate. Readers looking for an in-depth refutation of Chomsky's opponents, however, might be disappointed - because of the broad scope of the chapter, more room has been given to Chomsky's ideas than to those questioning them. The most interesting chapter of the book and the most original one is certainly Chapter 5. It is here where Smith makes the case that the ideas of a modular brain with constraint-based representations can be extended from linguistic knowledge to human nature as such. Chomsky's political anarchism, then, requires the exertion of free will within the limits of a so-constrained human organism. Although the author admits that Chomsky himself does not perceive of his political and linguistic ideas as being so linked, Smith's argument is intriguing, especially in the light of other contemporary attempts to replace fragmented postmodernism with coherent models of explanation (cf. Johnson & Lakoff, 1999). Political anarchism, on this view, is to an innate module of moral disposition what linguistics is to the innate language faculty. While one must be careful not to attribute this claim to Chomsky, it is a plausible extension of his suggestions - one that might well attract more attention as the 21st century unfolds. Summary Smith's book is both informative and thought-provoking. Those interested in an overview of Chomsky's work will find what they are looking for if they are willing to go with the pro-Chomskyan attitude that Smith has adopted and does not seek to conceal. The book's major strength is its big-picture perspective - an intriguing combination of problems of linguistic knowledge, philosophy, and politics. In this sense, ideas and ideals unite to form an ideology that both builds on and transcends other models of human nature. References Barsky, R. (1997) Noam Chomsky: A life of dissent. Cambridge: MIT Press: Chomsky, N. (1995) The minimalist program. Cambridge: MIT Press. Harris, R. (1995). The linguistic wars. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to western thought. New York: Basic Books. Newmeyer, F. (1986). Linguistic theory in America. San Diego/London: Academic Press. About the reviewer: Chris Bongartz is Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. She received her PhD in English language and linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests include generative grammar and problems of second language acquisition, especially those related to the syntax-morphology interface. Her book on noun combination typology in interlanguage will appear in the fall with Niemeyer, Tuebingen.Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue