Battle in the Mind Fields

“Wefrequentlyseeoneideaappearinonedisciplineasifitwerenew,whenitmigratedfromanotherdiscipline,likeamolethathaddugunderafenceandpoppedupontheotherside.”Takingnoteofthisphenomenon,JohnGoldsmithandBernardLaksembarkonauniquelyinterdisciplinaryhistoryofthegenesisoflinguistics,fromnineteenth-centurycurrentsofthoughtinthemindsciencesthroughtotheoriginsofstructuralismandtheruptures,bothpoliticalandintellectual,intheyearsleadinguptoWorldWarII.Seekingtoexplainwherecontemporaryideasinlinguisticscomefromandhowtheyhavebeenjustified,BattleintheMindFieldsinvestigatestheporousinterplayofconceptsbetweenpsychology,philosophy,mathematicallogic,andlinguistics.GoldsmithandLakstracetheoriesofthought,self-consciousness,andlanguagefromthemachineageobsessionwithmindandmattertothedevelopmentofanalyticphilosophy,behaviorism,Gestaltpsychology,positivism,andstructurallinguistics,emphasizingthroughoutthesynthesisandcontinuitythathasbroughtaboutprogressinourunderstandingofthehumanmind.Arguingthatitisimpossibletounderstandthehistoryofanyofthesefieldsinisolation,GoldsmithandLakssuggestthattherupturesbetweenthemarosechieflyfromsocialandinstitutionalcircumstancesratherthanafundamentaldisparityofideas.