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    Relato introductor a noam chomsky, sencillo y didáctico

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    Chomsky Beginners

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    Sergio Rodriguez
    Relato introductor a noam chomsky, sencillo y didáctico

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Chomsky -_ a =. a a a) cr) as = a) a PAUL GORDON Introduction [Noam Chomsky is one of the ten most-quoted writers of all time. The Chicago Tribune has called Professor Chomsky "the most cited living author," adding that among intellectual luminaries of all eras, he ranks eighth, just behind Plato and Sigmund Freud. "To confront a mind that radically alters our pérception of the world is one of life's most unsettling, yet liberating experiences," i swrites James Feck in the Introduction to The Chomsky Reader. “in all American history, no one’s writings are more*yneettling than Noam Chomsky’s..~” No intellectual tradition quite captures his voice... No party claims him; he is a spokesman for no ideology.” And the Mother of Amherican newapapers, | The New York Times, called Noam Chomeky “arguably the moet Importar : intellectual alive?” Oain Whok 'n the 19908, this ie otill the most frequent response to the mention of the name of Noam Chomsky, a mild-mannered professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Why, you might wonder, have 50 many of us never heard of someone so “famous?” |6 this the ultimate Yoqi-Berra-iom—He’s 60 famous no one's ever heard of him?) The reason you haven't heard If too many people lis~ much about Noam Chomsky | ten open-mindedly to what (which, by the way, Is a | Chomsky has to say about demonstration in action of | huge corporations running his thesis that the Media | the country, the world, both manipulates —/die- political parties, and the torts/withholds Major Media...why, Information to» suit their Sag: e the gentle WI Major Medi don’t want” yor to know ea Noam Chorféky. > ‘hinge about: Chomeky le that he jough our leaders have lied to us and Media has parroted their lies, even Our government serves the. needs of some and ignores the needs of others, With regard to most of the issues that affect most of the people, the major political parties are virtually identical. The news media do not give a full, balancea picture of political events. Above all, our government, our politi- cians, and our media, ignore the needs of the majority and serve the needs of the rich. Things seem to be ; getting worse. J Note These are not Chomsky’s words, nor are they paraphrase they are the author meerprezations. This documentary comic book is an attempt to help rem- edy that situation by present- ing Chomekys ideas to people who have not been exposed to them. It does not presume to sum up the work of Noam Chomsky. It is meant as a gen- eral Introduction, an attempt to begin to anewer the ques- tion "Who?" and an invitation to those who are unfamiliar with his ideas to look for themselves into the very pressing isoues that he raises. Noam Chomsky has articulat- ed a system of ideas that can help us make sence of our intuitions and misgivings— and to know which are justified and which are not. Because Chomsky's ideas about poli- tics are antithetical to the purposes of the mace media—and to the rich gen- tlemen who own them—his ideas are rarely encountered in the mainstream. (‘These institutions are not self- destructive, after all," he says.) For those who may be completely [iI Einstein's theory of UE ac SAE Relativity, Chomsky’s ideas ME about: linguistics have spread in OTe eat Pe | ‘their influence, and their effects emer are gradu- eer eo ally filter~ Uae ing down Lal 7 to the eee lives of ees ordinary Se people. Coe But his guisti work as a ee ea Te social and guage its political theorist ae and as a “media critic" is oe of press- ro ing impor- and tance rate right now Pete to every erage one who is TCC concerned ene] about. the CS survival of eens democrat involved in ic inetitu- tures? tions, the protection of human Cae a rights and freedom, and the See reservation of a habitable ervi- Ca ronment. It is this work that is of SECRETE EE most pressing relevance to the NRE UIC EM general public. Chomsky ie not a eC eRe Rage philosopher you leave in the be even less heard of in the mai clazsroom: he helps you live your Ee life, ee And don't worry- Chomsky is not a difficult read. Chomsky is common sense elevated to genius. Life is like a box of chocolates... First, a little background: How did Noam Chomsky come to be one of thi ten most-quoted authors of all time, “arguably the most important intellectual alive"? Well, among other things, he was a’college drop-out. & homsky is reluctant to talk about his life. "I'm rather against the whole notion of making public personali- ties, of having some people be stars and all ‘that," he says, Cults of pereonality distract people from real issues, The media are so absorbed with these public pereonalities, that “air time" io almost totally dominated with gossip, the details of hideous violent crimes, or sports. There is little information about: anything you can do anything constructive about, including most of what: your government is doing. But though Chomsky may, feel that the Therefore we will take a quick look. But in deference to the man, we won't spend very long on the subject. [\er Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, on December 7, 1928. One of two sons, Chomsky was a child during the Great Depression, which began with the stock market crash in 1929 and lasted until World War tl. The Chomsky family was spared the worst aspects of the Depression because both parents had Jobs. The effects of the crisis were still profound, however, aid Chomsky saya that some of his earliest memories are Depression scenes: people celling rage at the door, police violently breaking strikes, and 60 on. te both worked as Hebrew teachers, Noam's father Chomeky was.a noted Hebrew scholar and the ‘of Hebrew, the Eternal Language, one of the most where there were no grades, where there as competition, and na euch thing as a His family was practically the only Jewish family in a bitterly anti-Semitic Irih and German Catholic neighborhood where there wae open support for the Nazis until the U.S. entered World War Il. Chomsky was exposed to anti-Semitiem on the streets and profoundly affected by the rise of fasciem in Europe during the ‘30s. All right, claes, it’s time to take attendance... Billy Himmler? i SOI POG SBI X55] His first published piece of writing was an editorial for hie school newpa- per about the fall of Barcelona. At the age of 12 he wrote a history of the Spanish Civil War. “It was really a lament about the rise of fasciem." the Kiosk He often visited an uncle in New York City who operated a magazine Kosk at the subway exit at 72nd and Broadway. Chomaky says his uncle wae a hunchback with a background in “crime and lefe-wing politics” Because of his disability, he qualified to operate a kiosk. It was at- the less trafficked exit of the subway entrance and did poorly ae a business, but in the late ‘0s it became a hangout. for European emigres. Young Chomsky epentt: many hours there participating In lively discussions of issues and ideas that took place on an almost ongoing basis, Chomsky says the kiosk was where he received his political education. Hie uncle was also well-versed in the work of Sigmund Freud, and Chomsky devel oped a broad understanding of Freudian theory while stil a teenager. In New York he discovered the anarchist. book shops on. Fourth’ Avenue where he would often browse and read. Chomsky has described an experience that affected him deeply i wich a bully was picking on “the standard fat kid" and everyon ‘Supperted the bully while no one came to the aid of the victim. easy "I stood up for him for a while," he says. "Then | got scared." Afterwards he was ashamed and resolved that in-the future he would support the underdog, those unjustly oppressed. "! wae always on the side of the losers," he seid, “like the Spanich anarchists." 8 On the day of the Hiroshima bombing, says Chomsky, "I literally couldn't taik to any one. There was nobody. I just walked off by myself... I could never talk to anyone about it and néver under- stood anyone's reaction.” [CR] Though Chomsky is known for hie intel- lect, his political ideas are driven more by moral principles. He wae appalled by the way people taunted German prisoners through the barbed wire at a prison camp neat his high school as though it was the patriotic thing to do to. At the same time, Chomsky was much more passion- ately opposed to Nazism than the people who were taunting the soldiers. That’s a prevty big cloud hanging over your head... college Drepeutt Ta manage the expense of college, he commuted several houre a day to attend the unWversity while living at home, He also worked an a Hebrew teacher evenings, afternoons, and Sundays, But his enthusiasm for the university waned, He lost interest. In every oubject he enrolled in, After two years, he decided ta drop out, But he maintained his lifelong interest in radical politics and became evan more deeply involved in Zionist activitlas. Many years later, in upholding many of the same principles, he would be called atrtl-Zioniet, O-K, forget it... lets turn chomsky considered this thing around... going to Palestine to help to further Arab-Jewish cooper- ation within a socialist frame- work, But he was put off by the “deeply anti-democ- ratic" concept of a Jewish state. Under Harris’ influertce, Chomsky returned to college and studied lin- quistics. He calle hie university experience “unconventional.” The linguistics department was a small group of graduate etudente who shared political and other inter- este and met in restaurants or in Harrie! apartment, for all-day die cussion sessions. Chomaky immersed himself in linguistics, phi- losophy, and logic, He was awarded BA and MA degrees though he had very little contact with the univers sity system. He married linguist Carol Schaz In 1949. They were to have a ean atid two daughters. One of Chomeky's philosophy teachers was Nelson Goodman, who introduced him to the Society 16 of Fellows at Harvard. He was admitted in 1951 and awarded a evipend, which freed him for the firet time in his life from the neces sity to work outside of his research. ‘Here you ga, kid... Ym off to do In 1953, while a member of the Society of Fellows, Chomsky went to Israel and lived on a kibbutz for a few months. There was the but it. little food and work was hard, Chomsky enjoyed He saw the kibbutz as a functioning and successful libertarian community. Chomeky and his wife considered going back to live on the kibbutz. He had no hopes or interest in an academic career and nothing holding him in the United States, But he was uncomfortable with the conformism and the raciot principles underlying the institution. Chomsky had been opposed to the for- | mation of a Jewish state in 1947-48 because he felt the socialist insti- tutions of the pre-otate Jewish settlement in Palestine would not survive the state system. When his term at Society of Fellows was echeduled to end in 1954 he had no job prospects, 60 he asked for an ‘extension. Hie wife had gone back to the kibbutz for a longer visit and the two planned to return to stay. Instead Chomsky received a research position at MIT. and became immersed in lin- guistics. "7 In 1955 he received a Ph.D. from ‘the University of Pennsylvania om the basis of his submission of a chap- ter of a book he was working on. Though the hook was virtually complete in 1956, it was so unconventional at the time that it was not published until 1975, and then only in part, as Logical. Structure of Linguistic Theory. Well, it’s an interesting book, Mr. Chomoky, albeit a little unconventional. Perhaps we'll publish part of it some- time soon... Political activism In the 1260's the escalation of the Vietnam war forced Chomsky to make a moral choice. He began active resio~ tance to the war knowing that it: was very likely that he would have to spend time in prison for it. He put a very com- fortable position in academia in jeop- ardy to protest the war. Asked about why he took that risk, Chomaky has said, “It has to do with being able to look yourself in the eye in the morning," in 1966, Chomsky’ inca ‘ab article: Intellectuals" which appeared in:The: cle was widely acclaimed ai ‘Intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments, to ana- \yze actions according to their caus- es and motives and often hidden intentions, In the Western world at least, they have the power that comes from political liber- ty, from access to Information and freedom of expression, For 4 privileged minority, Weetern democracy provides the leloure, the facilities and the training to seek the truth lying hidden behind the veil of distor- tion and mierepresentation, ideology, and. class interest through which the events of cur- rent history are presented to us..." 19 "American aggressiveness, however it may be masked in pious rhetoric, ie a dominant force in world affairs and must be analyzed in terms of its causes and motives.” [*NY Review of Books} jot iong after that artide appeared, the New York Review ; stopped publishing submissions by Chomsky. they were” {ittle more ‘than flunkles who dressed the lies of the ruling class in fancy. language and Jooked the other way when their Wn government committed atrocities that they wouldn’t hesitate to condemn if they'd been perpetrated by any other country. To the ruthlessly hottest Chomsky, you judged your friends, your enemies, and yourself by the same set of rules. Anything else would be cheating, wouldn't it? In October 1967, Chomsky partici- pated in the demonstrations that took place at the Fentagon and the Justice Department and was one of many who were jailed. Norman Mailer, who shared a cell with Chomsky described hirn in the late Chomsky articles, expressing Since mak- ing the commit- ment to be politi- cally active in ‘608, Professor hae written a steady stream of books, and pamphlets his views. He appeare almost anywhere The Armies of the Night, ae "a olim, eis invited to speak or discuss hia shacp-featured man with an ascetic expression and an air of gentle but abeolute moral integrity." Despite the variety of his interests and pursuits, Chansky's spring forth fully, formed, fully As with any important thinker, Chomsky's system of ideas rests on the work of many fine thinkers who preceded him. We'll have a look at some of the more notable anes. views, In the meantime, he remains 8 professor of linguistics at Mit. a The Shoulders of Giants— PN Casal) Tom ATLA CGE. (G28-BE4B.E) (renee along with every thinker In the tradition of Western Philosophy, owes something to Plata for laying a foundation for philoso- phy with his dedication to truth- secking and his concern for develop- ing a rational moral pereonality. Plato asked, "How can a human know eo much that he seems to have had little evidence for?" Chomsky asks the same question about the way children easily master language. In Chomsky’ approach to the study of linguistics and the cognitive processes, he, like Plato, searches for abstract and ideal forms ae explanations rather than merely drawing generalizations from observations. {n Plato's Republic, he envi- sioned an ideal society in which Justice io the ruling principle, an ideal which Chomsky would share. But Chomsky deviates from Plato's belief in the establishment of a hierar- chy which places intellectuals in a privileged class. Plato rejected democracy because in it political power io not attached to special qualifications, Chomsky prizes the democratic princi- ple. Both reject tyranny, the exercise oF irresponsible power by amoral men of rieninal will Rene Descartes (1896-1 GEO) Descartes is often callea ; “The Father of Modern Philosophy.” Chomsky says that reliable, though limit- he believes in ed conclusions, “Cartesian common Descartes sense," the began by scientific rejecting all method as philosophy laid out in before him Discourse and on Method attempting by Des- to establish cartes. In it, reliable Descartes lays premises upon out rules to help which to build a navigate safely through system of thought that chains of logic to reach would yield the truth. 23 He had a dream that convinced him that, since the senses may deceive us, all true knowledge must come from reagon alone. . He had 20 much trouble finding | any premises that he could believe in that he finally broke everything down to one basic principle. All he could be sure of, he said, was that he was think- | ing. From that he rea | soned that it was safe to say he must: exist. "| think there- fore | am" became the starting premise of his philosophy. Hie method for: thinking logically toward reliable oriclusions incllided the folloning rules: © Accept only clear. and distinct ese, # Break each problem into ae many parte ” a6 heceeeary to eolve It. * Work from the simple to the. sore xe — check fot ee al [In all of Chomsky’s thinking, he adheres tightly to these basic principles. In linguis- a tice he moves beyond mere observation and tries to establish explanatory principles. He FY) iso brings scientific discipline to his obser- vations of politics and the functioning of media. Descartes tried to discover the principles that: determined how we learn by looking at the difference between data (input) and knowledge (repre- sented by output). When | see an Irregular figure, why do | see it as a triangle? Why do | interpret the input of an impertect or degenerate tri- angle a6 an ideal shape in my mind? Descartes observed the discrepancy between the figure we are presented and the triangle we con- struct in our minds and argued that we see a tri- angle because there is something about the nature of our minds that makes the image of a triangle easily constructible by the mind, a kind of schema or template that we impose over the data of perception. Chomeky acke.. Why do children learn a specific system of grammar over all the other ones that might possibly be construct- ed from the input of the child's experience? 25 Chomely follows the Cartesian example In his method of studying linguistics. He uses his observations a a jumping off point for avetract: ‘thinking and attempts to establish abstract principles. And now... a swan dive for science... In Meditations on the First +, Philosophy: Of Truth and Error, eT peocartes says, "| am conscloue that | possess a certain faculty of Judging [or dietin- gulehing truth from error], which | doubtless received from God, along with whatever else is mine; and since it te impossible that he should will to decelve me, it ie likewise certain that he hae not given me a faculty that will ever lead me Into error, pro- vided | use it aright." 26 Chomsky pute this idea in @ modem scientific context by specu: lating that eudden and dramatic mutations may have led to qualities of intelligence that are, as far ds we know, unique to humans. Te Language is the most universal and characteristic of these qualities, though Chomsky allows that the same kind of uniqueness may b found in other areas as well. The study of language may offer a wedge, he says, or a model through which to gain a broader! understanding of qualities that are uniquely human. dean Jacques Rousseau (1718+ 1yPe) In Discourse on Equality, Rousseau challenged the legitima- cy of nearly every social inotitu- tion, This was a central theme of the US Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, to challenge the legitimacy of every institution, and to keep on challenging it (as ‘Chomsky has) with "eternal vigi- The American system was designed with a view of human institutions that was not innocertt. Power corrupts, 60 watch it, Freedom should never be It violates natural law that a handful of men be gutted with superfluities while the starving multitude lacke taken for Chomeky’s granted. sense af social Justice owes a Rousseau great deal to also con- Rousseau—he cannot imagine why a society filled with free people tolérate “a handful of men" to be’ “glutted with superfluities while the demned the individual con- trol of property and wealth. He called them “usurpations by the rich... established only by force, and forca could starving multitude lacks necessities.” take them away without [she rich] having grounds for complaint." Rousseau sald the establishment the rich-to guarantee their plu | Justice and peace to which all The poor and weak were seduced by such laws, said Rousseau. "All ran to meet their chains thinking they secured their freedom...” 2 It 16 not 80 much understanding which constitutes the distinction of man among the animals, as it is his being a free agent. For Rousseau, the essence of human nature is human freedom and the consciousness of this freedom. To Rousseau, surrendering your freedom was an insult to God. Chomsky political stand ie often classified as "leftiet" or “socialist” or "anarchist" and as such he is foolishly dis- missed by many who have come to associate those words with the darkest evil, But the principles that he champions most are freedom and democracy. tule by the people, the pplied to a byetem, thie not vaye to at Buc pr In the most basic sense, democracy majority. It is a principle that. may) system itself. There are many diff ciples to public policy: In the Unite is applied through people having +! make the decisions. Theoretically al In practice, tt ie not the voters elected officials. In America, the control of the country's resources and wealth are most definitely not distributed democratically. On the contrary, ‘America’s wealth and resources are very undemocratically concen- trated in the hands of a tiny minority. Wilhelm von Humboldt (U27GP - 1888) Chomsky found in Humboldt an affinity in both political ideas and linguistic ideas. He credite Humboldt with having a concept similar to Chomsky's generative grammar. But Humboldt lacked the mathematical tech- niques for developing it. Chomsky studied the foundations of mathematics without: think- ing it had any relationship to linguistics. He soon discovered that he could apply his mathe- matical insights to generative grammar. Who do you think you are... Wilhelm von Humboldt? Chomsky called Humboldt... "One of the most profound theorists of general linguistics and an early and forceful advocate of liber- tarian values." (CR). John Stuart Mills essay "On Liberty” began with a quote of the "leading principle” of Humboldt's thought: "the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diver- sity.” Humboldt concludes his critique of the authoritari- an otate by saying: "I have felt myself animated through- out with a sense of the deepest respect for the inherent dignity of human nature, and for freedom, which alone befits that. dignity."(FRS) 22 Humboldt believed that nothing better eee ‘people for freedom than freedom Itéelf, By loosening the boride onal people, he said, 'We shall progress at every tep” Like Rousoeau he belleved that humans are creative and eearching beings, “To Inquire and to create - ~ these are the center around which all human pureults mors or lees directly revolve." And the freedom to express this | not only be for the elite, but for everyone, “There le ing to human nature in the idea of refusing to any man the Fight to be a man” ~ “LONDON -- September 18, 1861. Mrs. Beecher Stowe's letter to Lord Shaftesbury, whatever its intrinsic merit may be, has done a great deal of good by forcing the anti-Northern organs of the London press to speak out and lay before the general public the ostensible reasons for their hostile tone against the North and their ill-concealed sympathies with the South, which looks rather strange on the part of people affecting an utter horror of slavery. Their first main grievance is that the present American war is'not one for the abolition of slavery,’ and that, therefore, the high-minded Britisher, used to undertake wars of his own and interest himself in other people's wars only on the basis of ‘broad humanitarian principles,’ cannot be expected to feel any sympathy with his Northern cousins. 38 ("Ta the first place,’ says The Economist, ‘the assumption that the quarrel between the North and South is a quarrel between Negro freedom on the one side and Negro slavery on the other is as impudent as it is untrue.’ “the North,’ says The Saturday Review, “does not proclaim Abolition, and never pretended to fight for anti-slavery. The North has not hoisted for its oriflamme the sacred symbol of justice to the Negro; its cri de guerre is not unconditional abolition.’ "f,' says The Examiner, 'we have been deceived about the real signifi- cance of the sublime movement, who but the Federalists them- selves have to answer for the deception?’ " San ae This i remarkably similar to Chom’ critiques of what he reads | in newspapers. In fact Chomsky | acknowledges a debt to Marx.| Chomsky's uncles and aunts in New York were part of the Jewish radical intelligenteia who dealt daily in dior course about class struggle. Many members of that community were members af the Communist Parly in its earlier days, but Chomsky says he grew out of that phase when he ‘was 12 or 13, Many of the éarly communists later became members of an anti-Bolshevik left that looked upon the Russian revolution as a right-wing perversion of Marxism. "There's a big difference between the libertarian doctrines of a person who lo trying te assoolate himself with a maso Popular tHovement to acquire power and the authoritarian power of somebody who's taken power and Ie trying to consal- date te," [L&P] George Crwelll (1908-1 95e) el & fe In the preface to Knowledge of Language Chomsky aske how people can know 90 little about the structure and function of their society, given 90 much evidence. He calle it "Orwell's problem," and defines it as ''the ability of totalitarian systems to instill beliefs that are firmly held and widely accepted although they are completely without founda- tion and often plainly at variance with obvious facts about the world around us." George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, who was bor in 1903 in Motihari, India, the son of an English colonial minister: Orwell created a framework for the analysis of political propaganda and thought control that has become part of modern folklore. Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia information, massive Investment in (1936) came out of hig-own experi: the manufacture of arms and mili- ences when he tary equipment, joined the suppression Loyalists in i must write about this of labor Spain and some day. movements was severely and popular | wounded during democratic the Spanish ZS movements: mi \ Civil, War. y tary actions to expand Orwell saw € territory, ard s0 on, the pioneering Fasciom was a natural out- daye of Fascism Y growth of monarchy. it was an in ite testing industriatage descendant of grounds in Spain aristocracy that developed under the Dictator ; when Franco. The charac- teristice of fas- ciom which were to become - familiar include: f it was concentrated discovered that private control NY . ‘war production of resources could generate and wealth, tremendous control of wealth. Orwell's novel, 1984 (published in 1949), portrayed a world in which three major superpowers maintained constant war, shifting enemies periodi- cally. War wae essential to the state, ‘to the operation of its economy and its control structures. Many of the concepts and expressions from 1984 (eg. Thoughtcrime and the Thought Police) have become famil- iar parts of our language. The Ministry of Truth was the place where, Winston, the hero of 1984 worked, “cleansing” news reports and altering = 1 the public record day to day as it served the purposes of the leaders. Newopeak ie the name for the language that the government used to HF hide what it wae doing. Using techniques such a6 oversimplification, euphemiom, misrepresen- tation, abbreviation, blurring and reversal of meaning, Newopeak makes language 60 meaningless that it cannot be used to communicate—or even to understand—the activities of the state. “Don't you see that the whole alm of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally Impossible, because there will be no words in which to express ten Every year...the range of consciousness [grows]... a little emaller.." From 1984, George Orwell. 290 Orwell's 1946 essay "Folitics and the English Language’ is an excellent: analysis of how the corruption of language is related to political control. In it he describes how language can be used to manipulate, to mislead. "tn our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible,” he says, counding remarkably like Chomeky would later. “Defenseless villages are bom- barded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunmed, the hute set on fire with incendlary bullete: this is called pacification. Millions of peas- ante are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this Is called transfer of population or rectifi- cation of frontiers. Feople are impriconed for years without trial, or shot in the. back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable ele- ments. Such phraseology ie need- ed if ore wante to name some- thing without calling up mental pictures of It. Consider for Instance some comfortable English professor defending, Russian totalitarianism. He can- not say outright, 4 believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so. Probably, therefore, he will say something like this: While freely conceding that the Soviet’ reg: exhibits certain features which the humanitarian’ may inclined to deplore, we must, I think, agree that ai cer: tain curtailment of the right to political opposition an unavoidable concomitant Of transitional pr that the rigors which the Russian people have been upon to undergo have bech amply justified in ti Of concrete achievement. i “ "When there isa gap between one's real and ohe", declared. aims, one turns...instinctively to, long. words... ike a’cuttlefish squirting out ink." 4 he anarchist tadition Anarchism is commonly defined a6 the belief in the abolishment of all forms of organized government, laws and machinery of law enforcement. in Chomskys view, it ie not the lack of organized government, but a different shape of organization that is not hierarchical. ‘We based on finding forme of social organization that are At one point Chomsky defines the anarchist: vicion ae seeking "A community of free~ association without coercion ty the state or other authori- tarian institutions in which free men can create and inquire and achieve the highest development of their powers.” In real life, there are no pure representations of any theory of social or economic organiza ‘tion, only societies in which dif- viable alternatives to ferent theories and philoso- centralized state power phies are applied to the real and coercive institutions. —={ ™) circumstances of life. Zellig Waccris : When Chomsky met Zellig Harria, he was on ‘the verge of dropping out of college, hav- ing found that every coursé he took soured his previous interest in the subject. Politics was always his pas- Zs sion and Harris shared many of his political inclinations. It was largely \ > Y) thio shared interest that led y guage was also a major interest of aN Chomcky going back to his childhood ER SA when hie parents were language teachers, SW Chomsky into linguistice, though lan- 42 Harris did a series of studies that led RRs Cee eee ee study of meaning, and to a revolution in linguistics. He extended structuralist analysis beyond the sentence and devel- oped formulas to capture systematic linguistic relationships between different kinds of sentences. He called his formulas transformations. Chomsky incorporated the concept of transformation into what he called transformative-generative linguistics, or See eine te A Note to the Reader: For those of you who can't wait: to sink your teeth into Chomsky’s “Juicy” work on Politics ‘and Media, by all means feel free to skip ahead to the sections dealing with those exciting subject. But if you do choose to read the other sections first, please come ack and read the section on Linguistics, Importance as a pioneer in linguistics, saying that his firet book Syntactid Structures, had created "The Chomekyan Revolution In Linguistice." He was rou ‘inely referred to in newsmedia ShortThink as "The Einstein of Linguistics." But even more Importantly, Chomsky's evolution into the most penetrating social crit- ic of our time developed logically, and in a sense morally, out of his work on times, his eocial criticism is so harsh that one is tempted to wonder if Chomsky has a low view of humanity, hie work in linguistics reveals a view cr human nature that ie 0 positive and hopeful that it’s almost religious. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Linguistics What is linguistics? many cases languages that were disappearing under the pressure of colonialiam, Experts in line guistics have often been called upon ta ease con- frontations between cul tures by helping peo- ple to learn foreign languages as quickly inguistice is the science of language. In using lan- guage. people employ principles of gram- mar, the complex and cubtle rules of language use, without having to consciously know the principles. Part of the work of linguistics is to dis- ap possible. cover or establish . ‘those principles. But we're v getting ahead of Another part. of the work of lin- ourselves, guistics is to compare and con- trast languages, their grammars, pronunciations, how meaning is created and how the languages are used. As with other studies, early biology for exantple, a prelim inary part of the task is naming and classification. Madem linguistics emerged as a distinct field of study in the 19th Century while colonialiem was flourishing, world travel wae increasing, and European cultures were encountering other cultures and languages. Linguists made an effort to study the languages that they were encountering, in 45 Evolution of linguistics In the West, the study of language began with the Greeks, For Plato it was a study of the etymologies or origins of Greek words. Dionysius Thrax, in the tot Century BC, worked out an elaborate ystem of grain mar for the Greek language. tt became known as traditional grammar. Roman grammarians Aeivs Donatus and Friscian in the Gth Century AD. adopted Dionysius Thraxs system and adapted it to Latin. It worked well because the two languages are both Indo-European languages, related in lineage and structurally similar. The Greeks philosophical grammar was passed onto the Romans. The Graeco-Roman tradition extended into Medieval times when it was applied to the modem European languages. When Latin branched into the Romance languages—talian, French, and Spanish— ‘the languages had become structurally different and required different kinds of analysis. it became difficult to apply the traditional grammar, B Some scholars saw the changes as a corruption of classical Latin and urged return to the archaic language forms. The idea that language change is corruption and should be prevented is called linguistic prescriptiviem. With the 15th century exploration of trade routes and colonization, Europe was exposed to other lan- guages not descended from Latin or Greek and not subject to the same traditional grammar. This stimulated a search for principles that would apply to the broadened frame of reference of languages. The search for canons of a universal logic led to the so-called general grammars of the 17th Century. With the discovery of the New World, grammatical analysis was extended to non-European lan- guages, but was relativély unproductive because all the languages were forced into the Latin mold. Ib was when the English discovered the methods of ‘the Indian scholar Panini ( ¢. 4th century B.C. ) that modem linguietics began. Pan The English colonists in India in the 18th Century 2S discovered Sanskrit, an aN. ancient language of reli- gion, philosophy, and litera) INE ture (now classified as an = Indo-lranian language). tre

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