QUOTE : Plato's problem, which is characteristic of many aspects of our cognition, can be stated succinctly as "How can we know so much when the evidence is so slight?" In particular, how is it that we have such intricate knowledge of our native language? How did we acquire such knowledge? Orwell's problem, which is characteristic of our political beliefs, is the converse: "How can we remain so ignorant when the evidence is so overwhelming?" In particular, how is it that we frequently believe the propaganda we are subjected to by the establishment, even when its claims are at variance with common sense and a huge amount of clear evidence? In forming our political beliefs, we seem to ignore a plethora of easily available evidence; in the case of our knowledge of language we have intuitions and abilities of a complexity for which the evidence is minimal.