Realism and Observation: The View from Generative Grammar

Abstract Standard proposals of scientific anti-realism assume that the methodology a research program can be endorsed without accepting its metaphysical commitments. I argue distinction between competence, rules governing one’s language faculty, and performance, or linguistic behavior, precludes this. Linguistic theories aim to describe not so must able distinguish observations reflective former from those latter. This classification data makes sense only against background psychologically realistic view theory. So very science commits one interpretation.