Editing Verbal Behavior (section)

==Chomsky's review and replies==
In 1959, [[Noam Chomsky]] published an influential critique of ''Verbal Behavior''.<ref>{{cite journal
 |last=Chomsky
 | first =A. Noam
 | title =A Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior
 | journal =Language
 | volume =35
 | issue =1
 | pages =26–58
 | date =1959
 | url =http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1967----.htm
 | jstor =411334
 | doi = 10.2307/411334
 | access-date = 2014-08-26| url-access =subscription
 }}, Repr. in {{cite book
 | editor-last =Jakobovits 
 | editor-first =Leon A.
 | editor2-last =Miron 
 | editor2-first =Murray S. 
 | title =Readings in the Psychology of Language
 | publisher =Prentice-Hall
 | location =New York
 | pages =142–143
 }}</ref> Chomsky pointed out that children acquire their first language without being explicitly or overtly "taught" in a way that would be consistent with behaviorist theory (see [[Language acquisition]] and [[Poverty of the stimulus]]), and that Skinner's theories of "operants" and behavioral reinforcements are not able to account for the fact that people can speak and understand sentences that they have never heard before.

According to [[Frederick J. Newmeyer]]:

<blockquote>Chomsky's review has come to be regarded as one of the foundational documents of the discipline of [[cognitive psychology]], and even after the passage of twenty-five years it is considered the most important refutation of behaviorism.  Of all his writings, it was the Skinner review which contributed most to spreading his reputation beyond the small circle of professional linguists.<ref>Frederick J. Newmeyer, ''The Politics of Linguistics'' (1986), {{ISBN|0-226-57720-1}}, p. 73.</ref></blockquote>

Chomsky's 1959 review, amongst his other work of the period, is generally thought to have been influential in the decline of behaviorism's influence within [[linguistics]], [[philosophy]] and [[cognitive science]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cogsci.umn.edu/OLD/calendar/past_events/millennium/final.html |access-date=2008-07-09 |title=The Cognitive Science Millennium Project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624123743/http://www.cogsci.umn.edu/OLD/calendar/past_events/millennium/final.html |archive-date=June 24, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author= Miller, G.A. |title=The cognitive revolution: a historical perspective |journal=Trends Cogn. Sci. (Regul. Ed.) |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=141–4 |date=March 2003 |pmid=12639696 |doi=10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00029-9 |s2cid=206129621 }}<!--http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~geo/Miller.pdf--></ref> One reply to it was Kenneth MacCorquodale's 1970 paper ''On Chomsky's Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior''.<ref name="MacQuorcodale">{{Cite journal |last=MacQuorcodale |first=Kenneth |title=A reply to Chomsky's Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior |journal=Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=83–99 |pmc=1333660 |doi=10.1901/jeab.1970.13-83 |year=1970}}</ref> MacCorquodale argued that Chomsky did not possess an adequate understanding of either behavioral psychology in general, or the differences between Skinner's behaviorism and other varieties. As a consequence, he argued, Chomsky made several serious errors of logic. On account of these problems, MacCorquodale maintains that the review failed to demonstrate what it has often been cited as doing, implying that those most influenced by Chomsky's paper probably already substantially agreed with him. Chomsky's review has been further argued to misrepresent the work of Skinner and others, including by taking quotes out of context.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Adelman |first=Barry Eshkol |title=An Underdiscussed Aspect of Chomsky (1959) |journal=Anal Verbal Behav |year=2007 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=29–34 |pmc=2774611 |pmid=22477378 |doi=10.1007/bf03393044}}</ref> Chomsky has maintained that the review was directed at the way Skinner's variant of behavioral psychology "was being used in Quinean empiricism and naturalization of philosophy".<ref>Barsky (1997), {{cite web |url=http://cognet.mit.edu/library/books/chomsky/chomsky/3/2.html |title=Chapter 3 |access-date=2007-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012220023/http://cognet.mit.edu/library/books/chomsky/chomsky/3/2.html |archive-date=2007-10-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>