I gave a lecture to Kyle Rawlins‘ “Language and Advertising Class” at Johns Hopkins today, about brand names from the perspectives of the advertiser, consumer, and linguist. PDF of slides is below.
A fundamental question in cognitive science is the extent to which certain cognitive abilities are either inherent in humans’ genotype, or dependent on environmental factors and learning. Nativists are those who attribute the balance of our competence to “nature” or the genetic endowment. Empiricists are those who emphasize the role that experience or “nurture” plays in cognitive development. Given how foundational this complex and nuanced issue is to the field of cognitive science, it is absolutely ridiculous to distill it into the following simple question: “Nativism or Empiricism?” In the name of absurdity, please case your vote: