Return to Saussure

Introduction In his 2014 lecture "Science, Mind, and Limits of Understanding" at The Vatican, Noam Chomsky delves into the profound mysteries of the mind-body problem and the inherent limits of human comprehension. By examining historical shifts in scientific thought, particularly those triggered by figures like Descartes and Newton, Chomsky challenges the conventional belief that science has fully demystified the natural world. Instead, he argues that our understanding of both mind and matter remains fundamentally constrained, suggesting that some aspects of nature may forever elude us. He emphasizes that these cognitive limits are not failures of science but rather natural boundaries of human inquiry. He argues that questions troubling us today—such as the nature of consciousness or the creative aspect of language—reflect the same cognitive constraints that puzzled early modern thinkers. As he notes, "Newton exorcised the machine but left the ghost intact,...