Evert Beth vs. Anton Reichling

In this article, I discuss a remarkable element in the introduction of generative grammar in the Netherlands, namely the prominent role of the philosopher Evert Beth (1908Beth ( -1964)), professor of Logic at the University of Amsterdam. His Constanten van het wiskundige denken (Constants of mathematical thought), which was both presented as a paper and published in 1963, was a major pro-Chomskyan contribution in the struggle to establish generative grammar at the University of Amsterdam. The plea for an algorithmic approach to grammar by a renowned mathematical logician and his rather devastating criticism of his anti-Chomskyan colleague Anton Reichling , professor of General Linguistics, became impressive weapons in the hands of a young and pro-Chomskyan generation of Dutch linguists, especially those in Amsterdam

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