Over the last few years, Chomsky has argued for what he calls a "minimalist" program in linguistics. In this talk, I shall attempt to show that reflections on what seems be required in order to provide a philosophically useful theory of "logical form" lead naturally to a conception of syntax that is very close to the conception Chomsky appears to have in mind. To put things another way, I shall outline a research program in syntax and semantics that seems to explain (i) why formal languages have tended to look the way they do, (ii) the empirical and philosophical demands placed on a theories of variable-binding and logical form, (iii) what was right--and what was very wrong--about talk of "LF", (iv) what was right about generative semantics (before it went nuts), and (v) what is right about the idea that syntax is just a projection of lexical properties.