Filozofija i drustvo 2024 Volume 35, Issue 1, Pages: 81-101
https://doi.org/10.2298/FID2401081L
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Explanatory account of the human language faculty: The developmentalist challenge and biolinguistics
Lipij Ana 
(Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade), ana.lipij@ifdt.bg.ac.rs
The aim of this paper is to explore whether Maria Kronfeldner’s analysis of
human nature could be applied to the concept of cognitive systems and
related capabilities, such as the human language faculty. Firstly, I will
address the nature-nurture debate, that is, explanatory claims of nature as
having a role in causing the language ability, and explanatory claims of
culture as responsible for the development of human language capabilities.
The nature-nurture divide generates a problem since it overlooks the
interaction of nature and culture during the development of language
capabilities, the problem called the developmentalist challenge. I will
demonstrate different standpoints that try to answer this challenge, most
famously the constructivist theory of Jean Piaget and the theory of
universal grammar of Noam Chomsky. Following the insights of Kronfeldner, if
we opt for an explanatory (and not classificatory or descriptive) account of
the human language, we will search for the explanatory epistemic roles and
their fulfilments. As Kronfeldner states, different sciences search for
different differences regarding explanandum, and I hope to show that the
integrative interdisciplinary framework dealing with cognitive systems is
needed. The conclusion is that biolinguistics is an interdisciplinary field
with a necessary unifying potential regarding explanatory account of the
human language faculty.
Keywords: language faculty, the nature-nurture divide, the developmentalist challenge, Piaget-Chomsky debate, biolinguistics
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