Chomsky et l'empirisme : de la critique de l’empirisme au sens de l'innéisme et du rationalisme chomskyens

摘要

By defending linguistic nativism and rejecting all varieties of empiricism, chomsky clearly goes against the general trend of analytical tradition in contemporary philosophy, for which empiricism is the scientific philosophy par excellence. The aim of this article is to explain and clarify Chomsky’s position. It concentrates on his criticism of empiricism and provides an analysis of his arguments. It shows how Chomsky strongly links the nativist thesis with two other theses, naturalism and mentalism, which explains that nativism seems to him more scientific than empiricism. Then, it addresses the issue of the meaning of chomskyan rationalism and of its reference to classical rationalism and to Descartes.