On Concepts, Modules, and Language

What are the landmarks of the cognitive revolution? What are the core topics of modern cognitive science? Where is cognitive science heading? These and other questions are addressed in this volume by leading cognitive scientists as they examine the work of one of cognitive science's most influential and polemical figures: Jerry Fodor. Contributions by Noam Chomsky, Tom Bever, Merrill Garrett, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, Zenon Pylyshyn, Janet Fodor, C. Randy Gallistel, Ernie Lepore, Mary C. Potter, LIla R. Gleiman, and others, put in perspective Fodor's contribution to cognitive science by focusing on three main themes: the nature of concepts, the modularity of language and vision, and the language of thought. On Modules, Concepts, and Language: Cognitive Science at Its Core is a one-of-a-kind series of essays on cognitive science and on Fodor.^ In this volume, Chomsky contrasts, for the first time, his view of modularity with that of Fodor's; Bever - one of the pioneers of modern psycholinguistics - discusses the nature of consciousness in particular with respect to language perception; Gerrett - another of the pioneers of psycholinguistics - reassesses his view of modularity in l