(February 22, 2018 at 3:50 pm)FatAndFaithless Wrote:(February 22, 2018 at 3:46 pm)JMT Wrote: FYI, my main study on language origins has been B.F. Skinner's Behavioral theory and his disagreements with Noam Chomsky, and then later the work of Steven Pinker. I think Chomsky has some interesting linguistic theories. He was the one who actually got me to wonder how evolutionary theory explained language origins. I assumed, perhaps without validity, that most atheists were evolutionists.
"evolutionists" makes it sound like an ideology. I accept evolution as the best current explanation because that's what all the scientific evidence points to. If someone were to overturn the theory of evolution by natural selection (and other factors) with sufficient evidence, then I would no longer accept it as the best explanation.
Most atheists do accept evolution, simply because the more scientifically-literate and educated you are, the less likely you are to accept theism. Plenty of theists accept evolution as well, a/theism is not the driver in the acceptance of that theory.
If you want to understand language, study linguistics. The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue, by Merritt Ruhlen, might be a good place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/Origin-Language-T...0471159638
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
