The Universal Generative Faculty: The source of our expressive power in language, mathematics, morality, and music

MD Hauser, J Watumull

Journal of Neurolinguistics 43, 78-94

Many have argued that the expressive power of human thought comes from language. Language plays this role, so the argument goes, because its generative computations construct hierarchically structured, abstract representations, covering virtually any content and communicated in linguistic expressions. However, language is not the only domain to implement generative computations and abstract representations, and linguistic communication is not the only medium of expression. Mathematics, morality, and music are three others. These similarities are not, we argue, accidental. Rather, we suggest they derive from a common computational system that we call the Universal Generative Faculty or UGF. UGF is, at its core, a suite of contentless generative procedures that interface with different domains of knowledge to create contentful expressions in thought and action.