so how are linguistics professors going to teach mainstream syntactic theory this fall?
omit Chomsky?
attempt to deny he had knowledge of what was going on?
how will they respond to Gen Z students being very angry about being taught Chomskyan Syntax?
I had always assumed that the dominance of Chomskyan syntax would begin to wain once he died, like the old adage about progress happening one funeral at a time
it seems like it could plausible have started not with his death, but his life
@beka_valentine ideally they teach it the way any other scientific theory should be taught: as an idea to be considered and tested but not accepted as dogma.
Ideally the students, being adults, understand that the names attached to ideas in any area of study are simply the people with the most sociopolitical sway at that place and time, and not heroes to be worshipped.
Ideally...
@BaumGeist linguistics is very heavily citation-ful
i havent looked at text books recently, but i feel like its hard to avoid mention of chomsky
@beka_valentine he was so prolific that I see him come up in critical theory, compsci, polisci.
My points are more that no man is an island, and it's bizarre to imagine he fabricated his theories entirely without outside input. I would hope the ideas could stand on their own, rather than hinge their success on being associated with his reputation. I would love to see the death of Great Man Theory, especially as it applies to academia.
But I think that's all just wishful thinking.
@BaumGeist you'd be surprised how much stands on chomsky being chomsky, but im still not sure how anyone's going to handle it when he comes up
especially when there's other theories that are just as good, and which normally don't get taught
beka valentine
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