Noam Chomsky
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Avram Noam Chomsky
December 7, 1928 (age 87)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Fields: Linguistics, analytic philosophy, cognitive science, intellectual history, political criticism
Institutions:
MIT (1955-present)
Institute for Advanced Study (1958-1959)
Alma mater
University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1949; M.A., 1951; Ph.D., 1955)
Harvard Society of Fellows (1951–1955)
Thesis Transformational Analysis (1955)
Notes
He has been described as "arguably the most important intellectual alive".[22]
Avram Noam Chomsky (/ˈnoʊm ˈtʃɒmski/; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, logician, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy, and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He has spent more than half a century at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is Institute Professor Emeritus, and is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism.
Born to middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. At the age of sixteen he began studies at the University of Pennsylvania, taking courses in linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. He married fellow linguist Carol Schatz in 1949. From 1951 to 1955 he was appointed to Harvard University's Society of Fellows, where he developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, in 1957 emerging as a significant figure in the field of linguistics for his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which laid the basis for the scientific study of language, while from 1958 to 1959 he was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He is credited as the creator or co-creator of the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of behaviorism, being particularly critical of the work of B. F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky attracted widespread public attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and landed a place on President Richard Nixon's Enemies List. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the Linguistics Wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later co-wrote Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, an analysis articulating the propaganda model of media criticism, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. However, his defense of unconditional freedom of speech – including that of Holocaust denial – generated significant controversy in what came to be known as the Faurisson affair of the early 1980s. Following his retirement from active teaching, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the War on Terror and supporting the Occupy movement.
Chomsky's work has influenced a wide array of academic fields, with Chomsky himself being one of the single most cited scholars in human history. He is widely recognized as a paradigm shifter who helped spark a major revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. In addition to his continued scholarly research, he remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, neoliberalism and contemporary state capitalism, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mainstream news media. His ideas in these areas have proved highly significant within the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements, but have also drawn criticism, with some accusing Chomsky of anti-Americanism and alleging that he is sympathetic to terrorism and genocide denial.
As a result of his anti-war activism, Chomsky was ultimately arrested on multiple occasions, and U.S. President Richard Nixon included him on his Enemies List.[95] He was aware of the potential repercussions of his civil disobedience, and his wife began studying for her own Ph.D. in linguistics in order to support the family in the event of Chomsky's imprisonment or loss of employment.[96] However, MIT — despite being under some pressure to do so — refused to fire him due to his influential standing in the field of linguistics.[97] His work in this area continued to gain international recognition; in 1967 he received honorary doctorates from both the University of London and the University of Chicago.[98] In 1970, Loyola University and Swarthmore College also awarded him honorary D.H.L.'s, as did Bard College in 1971, Delhi University in 1972, and the University of Massachusetts in 1973.[99]
In 1988, Chomsky and Herman published Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, in which they outlined their propaganda model for understanding the mainstream media; there they argued that even in countries without official censorship, the news provided was censored through four filters which greatly impacted on what stories are reported and how they are presented.[128] The book was adapted into a 1992 film, Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, which was directed by Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick.[129] In 1989, Chomsky published Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies, in which he critiqued what he sees as the pseudo-democratic nature of Western capitalist states.[130]
United States foreign policy
Chomsky believes that the basic principle of the foreign policy of the United States is the establishment of "open societies" which are economically and politically controlled by the U.S. and where U.S.-based businesses can prosper.[183]
He believes that 'official,' sanctioned historical accounts of U.S. and British imperialism have consistently whitewashed these nations' actions in order to present them as having benevolent motives in either spreading democracy or, in older instances spreading Christianity; criticizing these accounts, he seeks to correct them.[184]
Prominent examples that he regularly cites are the actions of the British Empire in India and Africa, and the actions of the U.S. in Vietnam, the Philippines, Latin America, and the Middle East.[184]
Part of the reason why he focuses most of his criticism on the U.S. is because during his lifetime the country has militarily and economically dominated the world, and because its liberal democratic electoral system allows for the citizenry to exert an influence on government policy.[185] His hope is that by spreading awareness of the negative impact that imperialism has on the populations affected by it, he can sway the population of the U.S. and other countries into opposing government policies that are imperialist in their nature.[184] He urges people to criticize the motivations, decisions, and actions of their governments, to accept responsibility for one's own thoughts and actions, and to apply the same standards to others as one would apply to oneself.[186]
Capitalism, socialism, and the United States
In his youth, Chomsky developed a dislike of capitalism and the selfish pursuit of material advancement.[187] At the same time he developed a disdain for the authoritarian attempts to establish a socialist society, as represented by the likes of Stalinism.[188] Chomsky believes that libertarian socialism should "properly be regarded as the inheritor of the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment,"[189] arguing that his ideological position revolves around "nourishing the libertarian and creative character of the human being."[190] He has stated his opposition to ruling elites, among them institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and GATT.[191]
Chomsky highlights that since the 1970s, the U.S. has become increasingly economically unequal as a result of the repeal of various financial regulations and the rescindment of the Bretton Woods financial control agreements.[185] He characterizes the U.S. as a de facto one-party state, viewing both the Republican Party and Democratic Party as manifestations of a single "Business Party" controlled by corporate and financial interests.[192] Chomsky highlights that within Western capitalist liberal democracies, at least 80% of the population has no control over economic decisions, which are instead in the hands of a management class and ultimately controlled by a small, wealthy elite.[193]
Noting that this economic system is firmly entrenched and difficult to overthrow, he believes that change is possible through the organized co-operation of large numbers of people who understand the problem and know how they want to re-organize the economy in a more equitable way.[194] Although acknowledging that corporate domination of media and government stifle any significant change to this system, he sees reason for optimism, citing the historical examples of the social rejection of slavery as immoral, the advances in women's rights, and the forcing of government to justify invasions to illustrate how change is possible.[185] He views violent revolution to overthrow a government as a last result to be avoided if possible, citing the example of historical revolutions where the population's welfare has worsened as a result of the upheaval.[193]
(bbm).
Then there's you .. seemingly, a supporter of everything he's against. I see why you dislike him so much.
= new reply since forum marked as read
