Decoding Chomsky: Science and Revolutionary PoliticsA fresh and fascinating look at the philosophies, politics, and intellectual legacy of one of the twentieth century’s most influential and controversial minds Occupying a pivotal position in postwar thought, Noam Chomsky is both the founder of modern linguistics and the world’s most prominent political dissident. Chris Knight adopts an anthropologist’s perspective on the twin output of this intellectual giant, acclaimed as much for his denunciations of US foreign policy as for his theories about language and mind. Knight explores the social and institutional context of Chomsky’s thinking, showing how the tension between military funding and his role as linchpin of the political left pressured him to establish a disconnect between science on the one hand and politics on the other, deepening a split between mind and body characteristic of Western philosophy since the Enlightenment. Provocative, fearless, and engaging, this remarkable study explains the enigma of one of the greatest intellectuals of our time. |
Contents
1 | |
14 | |
23 | |
28 | |
CHAPTER 5 THE COGNITIVE REVOLUTION | 42 |
CHAPTER 6 THE TOWER OF BABEL | 52 |
CHAPTER 7 THE PENTAGONS NEW TOWER | 56 |
THE GREAT FOLLY | 66 |
CHAPTER 15 BETWEEN COLLIDING TECTONIC PLATES | 130 |
CHAPTER 16 THE ESCAPOLOGIST | 138 |
CHAPTER 17 THE SOUL MUTATION | 149 |
CHAPTER 18 CARBURETTOR AND OTHER INNATE CONCEPTS | 160 |
CHAPTER 19 A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION? | 169 |
CHAPTER 20 MINDLESS ACTIVISM TONGUETIED SCIENCE | 187 |
CHAPTER 21 CHOMSKYS TOWER | 201 |
CHAPTER 22 BEFORE LANGUAGE | 210 |
CHAPTER 9 A UNIVERSAL ALPHABET OF SOUNDS | 73 |
CHAPTER 10 RUSSIAN FORMALIST ROOTS | 85 |
CHAPTER 11 INCANTATION BY LAUGHTER | 91 |
CHAPTER 12 TATLINS TOWER | 104 |
CHAPTER 13 AN INSTINCT FOR FREEDOM | 110 |
CHAPTER 14 THE LINGUISTICS WARS | 120 |
CHAPTER 23 THE HUMAN REVOLUTION | 231 |
GLOSSARY | 243 |
NOTES | 246 |
263 | |
277 | |
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