Language ranks among the most powerful influences on human existence. Even so, language presents many mysteries that are the subject of heated debate. Was there a rewiring of the human brain in our ancestral past which gave us the capacity for language? Is language a human invention developed by our ancestors to facilitate group cooperation? Is language primarily a tool for external communication or is it the fundamental substrate of inner thought? And how is that with a few choice phrases language can fire the imagination or transport us to the stars? Join Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker and other leading scientists as they grapple with the foundations of language.
This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, which is supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
