Chomsky vs. Quine: Were They Talking Past One Another?

The long-running disputes between Chomsky and Quine were manifold—sometimes deep and important, but other times, it seems, involving misunderstanding. They are both ‘theorists of language’, but I suggest that Quine came to cede some ground—or could have ceded some ground—without conceding the role he thinks is played by language in Naturalized Epistemology, which is perhaps the fundamental Quinean project. Very roughly: Chomsky is interested in psychology, namely the psychology of how humans manage to speak (or rather to become linguistically competent); Quine can cede that territory to Chomsky, for he is interested ultimately in certain aspects of the finished product, namely those aspects of language which embody knowledge.