Atakan ALTINÖRS
İn this paper, our objective was to investigate the criticism directed by Chomsky to "behaviorist" approaches on language, from a "mentalist" perspective. For this purpose, we first tried to present key arguments of mentalist philosophy of language by referring to the ideas of its principal representatives in the history of philosophy. Thereafter, we briefly reviewed emergence of behaviorism in psychology and examined its versions adapted to philosophy of language. İn the light of our preparatory studies, we discussed why and how Chomsky criticized the behaviorist movement in philosophy of language.
Key Words: Philosophy of language, behaviorism, mentalism, Chomsky, Skinner, Bloomfield, Russell, Quine, Stevenson, Descartes, Port-Royal.