Abstract

Arguments that learning requires innate knowledge have been common in the philosophical literature since Plato to the present. The dissertation examines the validity of a currently influential version of this argument, i.e. that the acquisition of language requires an "innate language of thought" which is as rich as any language learned. After presenting the fundamental problems involved in learning, namely that learning entails going beyond information given yet is restricted by a framework, and briefly mentioning some historical and paradigmatic attempts to solve them , the language of thought hypothesis is submitted to critical examination. This attempt to revive a Platonic conception of learning is an improvement over behavioristic theories which dominated both psychology and philosophy earlier in this century. Nevertheless, it is not satisfactory explanatory hypothesis of language learning and must be rejected. The critical discussion is based in Wittgenstein's philosophy of mind and it is claimed that more satisfactory theory of learning can be reconstructed from his remarks on the acquisition of language. These are then linked to empirical and theoretical developments on psychology, biology and neurophysiology. It is also shown how this can be developed into a systematic theory of learning. This alternative account of language acquisition, the Bio-Social Model, solves the fundamental problems of learning and is consistent with empirical data