THE PROFESSOR WHO CHANGED THE WORLD : A GUIDE TO NOAM CHOMSKY

the responsibility of intellectuals largely weighs upon the capacity for such public figures despite the potential loss of prestige or funding to remain consistent with their values however in an age of content creation and hot takes such an honest model is unlikely to turn a profit something that many such intellectuals have unfortunately valued above all else likewise the very task of remaining true to one's values can sometimes appear impossible when you take into account the biases that impact any individual no matter their intellectual status perhaps no contemporary public thinker has come closer to achieving this goal of staying true to their word than gnome chomsky although far from perfect chomsky's linguistic theory stance on foreign policy and human nature in general has largely shaped the discussions of politics justice and morality we find ourselves in to this day so who exactly is noam chomsky this video is sponsored by babel the number one language learning app in the world with more than 10 million subscriptions worldwide i've mentioned before that i study in montreal a largely bilingual city although i've really enjoyed montreal without speaking french i've always felt like i'm missing out on the total experience whether it's the montreal switch or learning about local events there is something about the french language that just seems to unlock a whole other side to the city but after trying to just jump into it as well as trying so many different apps and online courses i realized that learning another language isn't easy that is until i tried babble an app that has really stood out to me as the clear winner in my french language journey unlike other apps or software that rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning babel's lessons have been built by over 100 different language experts even more these lessons are voiced by native speakers exposing you to proper pronunciation secondly babel has been proven to give desired results studies have shown that 15 hours of babble is equal to an entire semester of college spanish finally babel is absolutely ad-free so you won't have to worry about wasting your time or being distracted by pop-ups click on the link in the description and get babble up to 65 off today born in philadelphia in 1928 to two jewish immigrants chomsky and his siblings were raised jewish and taught hebrew from a young age his family would regularly discuss left zionist writings and political theory contributing to gnome's dislike of capitalism and the pursuit of wealth chomsky also recalls experiencing a great deal of anti-semitism during his childhood even remembering neighborhood parties that were held in celebration of the german occupation of paris chomsky's father william who had fled from the russian empire to escape conscription had also left a great impression on his son william became a school principal and was greatly motivated to educate people so that someday they would become well integrated free and independent in their thinking concerned about improving and enhancing the world and eager to participate in making life more meaningful and worthwhile for all this goal would come to shape chomsky's life goal in promoting awareness and education although his parents were center-left chomsky's relatives who were involved in the international ladies garments workers union soon acquainted him with far-left politics this led to gnome regularly visiting leftist and anarchist bookstores as he quickly developed an appetite for reading political theory by the age of 10 nome had already written an article on the spread of fascism and by the age of 12 he had openly identified with anarchist politics this latter choice made him increasingly critical of stalinism and autocratic socialism in general at the age of 16 chomsky was studying philosophy logic language and arabic at university after a few enlightening conversations with the russian linguist selig harris chomsky decided to take up a degree in linguistics he excelled in the field and even had his ba honors thesis published afterwards chomsky attended harvard openly expressing his criticism of the dominating field of behaviorism around the same time he submitted a thesis titled the logical structures of linguistic theory which led him to being awarded a doctorate of philosophy degree chomsky also developed a relationship with his childhood friend carol schatz who was also interested in linguistic theory the two married and moved to boston shortly after chomsky became a fellow at harvard he would also become increasingly convinced that anarcho-cynicalism was a necessary form of government evident in the link he observed between classical liberalism and anarchism chomsky would go on to teach courses on linguistics and philosophy at mit there he would publish his first book on linguistics which would create a significant upheaval in the field as john leonce argued chomsky's book had revolutionized the scientific study of language gnome chomsky's real rise to the position of public intellectual occurred shortly after the publication of his review of b.f skinner's verbal behavior he argued that skinner's idea that language and behavior in general was simply a learned behavior ignored chomsky's own observation that much of language develops through the innate capacities of human nature chomsky would also become involved in a military-sponsored project to establish natural language as an operational language for command and control this was in the hopes that in the event of a nuclear war generals that were based underground could use a system that would ease communication despite chomsky's significant rise in academic prestige he spent much of his time involved in activism he would join protests against u.s involvement in vietnam refused to pay half of his taxes supported students who refused the draft and was at one point arrested for an anti-war teach-in outside of the pentagon this led to chomsky founding the anti-war collective resist as well as writing extensively about politics and social justice one of his most famous books the responsibility of intellectuals would attack journalists and intellectuals who had failed to tell the truth or deliberately lied to the public about the aims and consequences of u.s foreign policy notably chomsky's dissident behavior landed him on nixon's master list of political opponents nonetheless his achievements in the linguistic field shielded him from any sort of administrative action against his public beliefs chomsky considered to be the figurehead of analytical philosophy at the time agreed to debate michel foucault the figurehead of continental philosophy in which they discussed justice power creativity and human nature with a healthy supply of orange juice foucault debated in french while chomsky debated in english chomsky would argue that leftist postmodernist thinkers such as foucault did little for the actual working class and used needlessly confusing terminology to communicate simplistic ideas although chomsky was situated in the group of new left intellectuals such as eric from he thought little of them and preferred the company of activists to intellectuals in his two-volume the political economy of human rights chomsky was criticized for being an apologist for polpot's dictatorship in cambodia arguing that the media was far too focused on the events of cambodia because of its communist system whereas little air time was given to the more capitalist indonesia's occupation of east timor he was also widely condemned for defending the free speech of the french historian robert fories songs advocacy for holocaust denial although chomsky firmly disagreed with holocaust denialism he nonetheless could not compromise his own fight for free speech chomsky retired from mit in 2002 although he has continued his involvement in activism supporting the occupy movement and joining an advisory council in 2014 that advocated for the abolition of nuclear weapons noam chomsky's political and philosophical views begin with his theory of linguistics chomsky argues that the discovery of cognitive structures that are universally common suggest that there is some sort of human nature this is based on his theory of acquisition that all humans possess the innate capacity for language an argument for biolinguistics which puts forth the idea that the structural elements of language are genetically inherited and that all humans share these traits despite any socio-cultural differences chomsky came to this theory from his own observations that children are able to develop complex and creative sentences despite having very little to work with this is called the poverty of stimulus the gap between linguistic competence and actual language exposure chomsky hypothesized that only the existence of an innate linguistic capacity which he calls the language acquisition device could make sense of this from this he argues that the feature of such a device would be universal which he called universal grammar chomsky also extended zelig harris's work on transformational generative grammar which is theorized to help model and code and deduce linguistic competence chomsky argues that there are deep structures and surface structures in language the surface involving phonetic competence whereas the deeper structures encompass the conceptual meaning behind words chonsky's views reduced the dominance of behaviorism which argued that behavior and language is an entirely learned product however recent studies have suggested that his own linguistic theory fails to hold up tomasello claims instead that kids acquire language through general cognitive abilities and the reading of other people's intentions stephen pinker has defended chomsky's theory stating that chomsky's main claim of innate learning structures has yet to be rejected entirely in the 1971 debate with foucault chomsky further explained his position on human nature from his linguistic theory chomsky goes on to suggest that language is only one of the many innate models of the mind language allows us to combine arbitrary concepts in an unlimited number of ways suggesting that human thought is in itself infinite in possibility hence chomsky argues that creativity is an important element in human nature and thus systems of government that offer this space for creativity and freedom are conducive to flourishing chomsky identifies anarch of syndicalism and libertarian socialism as ideologies that could satisfy such a task as they revolve around nourishing the libertarian and creative character of the human being anarcho-syndicalism views revolutionary industrial unionism as a method for workers to gain control of the means of production and hence control the society in which they live within this view is largely concerned with abolishing the wage system in general as well as the establishment of direct democracy chomsky envisions a future where such a system is in place where there is no need for political parties and where individuals can gain job satisfaction and a sense of purpose through controlling productive life he suggests that unpleasant jobs could be automated or shared amongst everyone chomsky however doesn't believe that such a future is possible without an educated population unfortunately as he argues much of the truth behind our world is distorted and censored by an elite corporatocracy through the use of mainstream media advertising and think tanks the elite class marginalized contrary views and at times manufacture popular consent for activities that only benefit the powerful chomsky brings up the fact that the u.s media will avoid covering certain stories such as the murder of fred hampton the contra massacres and the large number of palestinian deaths in comparison to the deaths in israel he also points to the small number of socialist journalists and commentators allowed in mainstream media chomsky believes that through educating the population on the truth and common sense as well as achieving grassroots democratic control of the media society will become more beneficial to the individual hence chomsky focuses mostly on the us because as he argues it is the most dominant nation and also allows citizens to influence government policy through elections through public influence he hopes that citizens will use critical thinking to reject harmful policies although he was at one point a radical and revolutionary figure in political thought and linguistic theory noam chomsky's influence has reached the point to which his ideas have now been entrenched in everyday discussion the idea of manufacturing consent the profit-driven project of u.s intervention in latin america and the middle east the bias of mainstream media and the importance of education and critical thinking are now everyday household topics whether those who speak on them know of chomsky or not noam chomsky could be seen as the poster boy for leftist thought providing dry humor and clear justifications for why an equitable economy is suited for human nature however it is an always interesting task to imagine chomsky's relative influence if he wasn't just a little bit more compromising as stephen pinker has stated chomsky portrays people who disagree with him as stupid or evil using withering scorn in his rhetoric chomsky is infamous for making extreme claims dismissing contemporary thinkers as brain dead and even suggesting that entire intellectual movements offer nothing of substance chomsky rarely attends conferences even if they're left oriented there is something honorable about never compromising chomsky's disagreeable nature likely stems from his absolute commitment to his ideas and it is true that he has remained consistent throughout his entire career but could chomsky have been more effective in the political arena in enacting real social change if he demonstrated a greater willingness to talk to those who disagree with him or perhaps it is his uncompromising nature that made him such a popular figure to begin with [Music] you

Channel: Sisyphus 55

Views: 304,153

Keywords: chomsky, jordan peterson, zizek, manufacturing consent, trump, communism, linguistic theory, foucault, chomsky foucault debate, psychology, human nature

Id: NPMLgCuNAK0

Length: 13min 53sec (833 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2021