Both the structural linguist and th

Both the structural linguist and the behavioral psychologist were interested in description, in answering what questions about human behavior: objective mea. surement of behavior in controlled circumstances. The generative linguist and cog nitive psychologist were, to be sure,interested in the what question;but they were far more interested in a more ultimate question,why:what underlying factors- innate, psychological, social, or environmental circumstances—caused a particular behavior in a human being?If you were to observe someone walk into your house, pick up a chair and fling it through your window,and then walk out,different kinds of questions could be asked. One set of questions would relate to what happened:the physical descrip tion of the person,the time of day, the size of the chair, the impact of the chair,and so forth. Another set of questions would ask why the person did what he or she did: what were the person's motives and psychological state,what might have been the cause of the behavior,and so on. The first set of questions is very rigorous and exacting: it allows no flaw, no mistake in measurement; but does it give you ultimate answers? The second set of questions is richer, but obviously riskier.