Another biolinguistics history: From aristotle to darwin

This chapter reconstructs a possible alternative history of Chomskyan biolinguistics hinging on the embodiment of language, whose precursors are identified in Aristotle, Vico, Darwin and Broca. The recent re-reading of Aristotle, given by Franco Lo Piparo, is used to reconstruct a biolinguistics independent of the cerebrocentric hypothesis and, therefore, entirely focused on the primacy of linguistic articulation and of the relevant cognitive properties. Vico reconstructs the glottogonic dimension as the first truly linguistic evolutionary epistemology. Darwin’s position on language is critically discussed in great detail in its functionalist aspects, often influenced by Lamarckian residues. However, we emphasize the decisive importance of gradualism of structures and the populational thought as elements of an irreversible biolinguistics turn materializing in the birth of neuroscience with the discoveries of Broca’s aphasia. © Springer International Publishing AG 2016.