Comment by slibhb
19 hours ago
Chomsky is incredibly dogmatic; his views and personality have held the field back.
There's enormous irony in Chomsky's mathematicization of linguistics sweeping away the linguists who came before him compared to his own stubborn refusal to acknowledge the fruits of the statistical approach. As far as I know, he's more or less been swept aside.
One can argue that Chomsky's existence has done far more to bring the field forward than to hold it back, even if one only looks at how people have been prompted to challenge Chomsky's views.
A field of study being held back by an individual is more of an indictment of the field of study rather than the individual.
Appeal to Authority is over-emphasized in academia in general though.