Rule-Following and Semantic Internalism

This paper examines Wittgenstein’s rule-following argument in relation to Chomskyan generative grammar, focusing on selectional restrictions. While Wittgenstein views meaning determining rules as context-dependent and socially embedded, Chomsky treats linguistic rules as computational and internal to the mind. I argue that Wittgenstein’s critique does not apply to most syntactic rules but poses a challenge for selectional restrictions, which rely on world knowledge. If lexical features depend on external factors, selectional restrictions cannot be purely internalist. To preserve internalist semantics, I propose a modification of Pietroski’s (2018) model in which meaning rules function automatically, eliminating interpretative choice. This approach reconciles internalism with linguistic flexibility while maintaining its explanatory power within a generative framework.