Concerning WALS - Bees, Bats, Butterflies

[Salinas17 at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/10/08 2:09:41 AM, dharv at mail.optusnet.com.au writes:
> <<A reminder that it was Kepler who formulated the planetary laws, and a 
> comment that Chomsky has in common with Galileo a discipline-changing body of 
> work>>
> 
To be exact, there was a large body of data before Copernicus (and Kepler).   
Astronomers and mariners were able to predict the movement of objects in the 
sky reasonably well.

However, all this data was INTERPRETED with a theory that demanded all sorts 
of epi-cycles, whistles and bells in order to be consistent with the data.   
It was not that Ptolemy and pre-Copernican astronomy was inconsistent with the 
data.   It was that it jumped through all sorts of hoops to keep the earth at 
the center of the solar system.

What Copernicus did was change the CENTER of the theory, and all that 
complexity evaporated.   One might suggest that what Chomsky did was put the wrong 
object at the center of linguistics and sent it jumping through comparable 
hoops.

Kepler, having better data, added the ellipse to the equation.   But the 
"laws" of plantery motion awaited Newton.   You needed a Copernicus before you 
could get to a Newton.

Gallileo was, and got in trouble for being, a Copernican.   He had the center 
right.   Chomsky is a Chomskyan.   His work is as admirable as the 
Alexandrians, but it still unfortunately has the earth as the center of the universe.   
What we need is someone to do a Copernicus on it.

Regards,
Steve Long








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