The Enlightenment of the 18th century changed all this. No longer did people believe that people were born with all their qualities pre-built into them. Instead, they believed that they acquired them through learning and through experience.
In other words, people were suddenly allowed to make things of themselves, and not simply to accept the station into which they were born.
Chomsky is not challenging this Enlightenment world view, and is approaching the question of language from a very 'Enlightened' and scientific perspective, but he is suggesting that the evidence - the speed with which we learn language, the universality of basic grammar among all languages, the existence of language 'genes' and parts of the brain dedicated to language - all suggests that language is something that human beings are biologically programmed for from birth. We do not learn to speak by watching our Mums and Dads – we learn because we are pre-programmed to do so.
Chomsky's ideas changed radically people's ideas of just how language works, and where language comes from. Instead of looking to society and our environments for answers, people began to look more towards genetics and psychology.
Chomsky’s views have not gone unchallenged, and many counterarguments to his theory continue to emerge, but it is hard to over-estimate the philosophical and scientific impact this theory has had.
Click on 'play' button for a video introduction to the 'Enlightenment'