Noam Chomsky

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Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is a linguist who is perhaps better known for his strident anti-American political activism. He is an institute professor & professor of linguistics (Emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) [1]. Chomsky is very critical of American and Israeli foreign policy, sympathizes with Palestinians and has shown support for the terrorist organization Hezbollah[2]. He has also been criticized for anti-Semitism.

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Background

Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William Chomsky, a Russian immigrant, and Elsie Simonofsky Chomsky. His parents both practiced Judaism. His father taught Hebrew, and published a scholarly edition of a medieval Hebrew grammar.[3]. He received his education at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy, and eventually earned his Ph. D. in 1955. Since then, he has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He previously held the Ferrari P. Ward Chair of Modern Language and Linguistics, and is now an Institute Professor.

Linguistic Works

Chomsky's work is considered to be the spark of modern linguistic thought. His research deals with questions including the critical analysis of language and grammar, the role of biology in language and language acquisition, and the importance (or lack there of) of structural grammar and formal grammar in language function and development.

Chomsky has argued that the primary role the linguist should play is to decipher a language's grammatical structure. Chomsky has provided the field of linguistics path and policy in describing language as a concept and particular languages, as well as core functions of any particular language.

Generative Grammar

Noam Chomsky advocates the view that the human brain has innate ability to generate grammatical sentences, thus, all utterances deemed sensible to the speaker are necessarily grammatical. All humans, he argues, shares a core of grammar that explodes into the thousands and thousands of distinct languages spoken by humans over time and place. Generative grammar ultimately suggests that the brain is like an unlabeled map, and a child's role is to assign different "paths" with particular labels.

Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky also proposed the theory that a kind of universal grammar, a grammar that underlies all human languages, is hard-wired in the human brain. Thus all human languages are fundamentally the same, with only superficial differences.

Criticism

Both the theory of universal grammar as well as generative grammar have been criticized over time. A primary argument is that the majority of Chomsky's studies are based in English, and do not represent "human language" as a whole. Linguist Geoffrey Sampson suggests that the core of his arguments are not scientifically falsifiable, and therefore hold no more weight than mere opinion or conjecture. Sampson follows that Chomsky does not seem to be able to make predictions of what is possible in a language. Finally, many of his critics claim that Chomsky's books are riddled with factual inaccuracies [4].

Political Views

Chomsky has stated that his "personal visions are fairly traditional anarchist ones, with origins in The Enlightenment and classical liberalism" and he has praised libertarian socialism.

His opponents accuse him of expressing admiration for governmental systems such as the Soviet Union, Chinese and Cambodian governments which are characterized by central control, xenophobia, and rejection of free expression, though he has openly expressed opposition to the Soviet Union and other regimes characterized by authoritarianism, arguing that they are not legitimate forms of socialism.[5] He also counters that he is merely pointing out the West's own crimes and not condoning authoritarian governments that the West opposes. His stated justification for this is that criticism of other authoritarian governments will do nothing except give the United States ammunition against other countries, while being able to freely ignore their own crimes, whereas criticism of his own country may bring about what he considers to be positive reform. Chomsky identifies himself as a libertarian socialist who is opposed to both neoliberalism and authoritarianism. [6]

Anti-Semitism

Chomsky has been criticized for anti-Semitism.[7][8]. In addition to his support for Hezbollah, He has stated that Jews are "the most privileged and influential part of the population", and that "Anti-Semitism is no longer a problem. It's raised, but it's raised because privileged people want to make sure they have total control, not just 98% control"[9]. His statements show striking similarities with classic anti-Semitism.

Chomsky has also been a vocal supporter of controversial author Norman Finkelstein, author of The Holocaust Industry, who has argued that claims of anti-Semitism are used to silence critics of Israel and that the Holocaust is exploited by some Jewish institutions for their own gain.[10]

It should be noted that both Finkelstein and Chomsky are from Jewish-American backgrounds [11][12], and that both Chomsky's parents were devout and involved in Jewish scholarship. It is unclear whether Chomsky still practices Judaism.

Chomsky's Criticisms of the West

Chomsky is one of the most vocal critics of the United States foreign policy. Some of his criticisms are:

  1. The overthrow of democratic and secular leader Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and replacement with the Shah, a brutal dictator in 1953 (Done by the US and the UK)
  2. The overthrow of social democrat Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954
  3. The overthrow of democratic socialist Salvador Allende in Chile on 9/11 in 1973
  4. The Dirty War against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua in the 1980s
  5. The backing of a brutal military dictatorship in El Salvador during the same time period
  6. Selling weapons to a terror-state (Iran) to fund another terrorist group (The Contras). (See Iran-Contra Affair)
  7. Selling weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.
  8. Supporting the mujahideen which later became al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1980s
  9. Invading Iraq in 2003 despite lack of support from the UN
  10. Blatant Support of Israel which Chomsky believes is a terror state despite his Jewish ethnicity

(Source: Hegemony or Survival)

See Also

References

  1. ↑ http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/chomsky/index.html
  2. ↑ http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=11&x_article=1151
  3. ↑ http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/chomsky_noam.html
  4. ↑ http://www.paulbogdanor.com/200chomskylies.pdf
  5. ↑ http://chomsky.info/articles/1986----.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19446
  7. ↑ http://www.jbooks.com/interviews/index/IP_Dershowitz.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15381
  9. ↑ http://www.variant.randomstate.org/16texts/Chomsky.html
  10. ↑ University denies tenure to Holocaust academic, Mail & Guardian, 12 June 2007.
  11. ↑ [1]
  12. ↑ http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/noamchomsky2005
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