The 2014 question posed by edge.org to eminent thinkers was "what scientific idea is ready for retirement?"

In Psych 457 this term, we will consider what ideas about language, the psychology of its use, or attitudes about language might fit this definition:

• Human Language is Unique in the Animal Kingdom
• Language Disorders
• Language Development

We began by reading several responses to the question by psychologists and linguists:

• Universal Grammar, Benjamin K. Bergen
  • closely related to Instinct and Innate, Daniel L. Everett
• Language Conditioning Worldviews, John McWhorter
• A Science of Language Should Be Concerned Only With 'Competence', N.J. Enfield
• Brain Modules, Patricia S. Churchland
  • closely related to Left-Brain/Right-Brain, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore; and Left Brain/Right Brain, Stephen M. Kosslyn!
• Animal Mindlessness, Kate Jeffery
  • closely related to Human Evolutionary Exceptionalism, Michael McCullough
• Jared Diamond's also questioned the question.
• Another idea ripe for retirement: Dear Pedants: Your fave grammar rule is probably fake