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< BACK The Prism of Grammar How Child Language Illuminates Humanism Tom Roeper A Note from the AuthorThe Prism of Grammar makes the connection between the tiniest details of grammar and the deepest abstractions about human nature. This book argues for a humanistic understanding of modern cognitive science as it is reflected in linguistic theory. Every act we, or a child, takes reflects our whole being. Child grammar provides a direct window on the fundamental principles of how the mind constructs not only unique meanings, but unique actions, and unique emotions. How do we get our sensations, thoughts, biases, and personality together to come to rest on a single act—say just glancing around a room. Creativity is the heart of humanity, but not random creativity, It is creativity linked to systematic mathematical notions: hierarchies, the property of "recursion," and the automatic transformations the mind must do just to say a sentence.From this conception of grammar flows a concept of human dignity based upon free will experienced by each person. Serious consequences follow for our view of science and ethics in education, and simply why we should respect each other and our children. |
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