Noam Chomsky is a linguist, professor, author, and activist who has lectured at universities worldwide. His rationalist philosophy argues that the mind is not a blank slate at birth, and all languages have fundamental similarities in grammatical structure. Chomsky believes humans are innately primed to resist unreasonable political environments and advocates for major social change.
Noam Chomsky, born Avram Noam Chomsky in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 7, 1928, is an influential linguist, professor, author and activist. He was an institute professor and professor of linguistics at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chomsky has lectured and resided at many universities around the world.
Chomsky received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania as well as a PhD in linguistics. He has authored dozens of books since 1955. Some of his best known include The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Language and Mind, and American Power and the New Mandarins. Imperial Ambitions and Failed States was published in 2006.
His approach to linguistics derives from rationalist philosophy, which argues that the mind is not a blank slate at birth, dependent on experience and learning, but rather is endowed with universal knowledge for human nature. Chomsky believes that all languages - and there are more than 5,000 of them – contain fundamental similarities in the grammatical structure that humans inherently understand from birth. The languages people are exposed to at an early age make no difference.
This concept is called transformational generative grammar. Chomsky points out that it is the universal unconscious aspects of language that allow individuals to create original grammatical sentences. This approach sees linguistics not simply as connected to psychology, but as a definite component of psychology.
According to Chomsky, humans are innately primed to be immune to tolerating unreasonable political environments. He argues that we are free agents to a certain extent, because we are very limited by the protective cognitive structures present from birth. He was an antiwar activist in the 1960s and continued to criticize American foreign policy and US participation in the war. Many of his writings are political and speak of the need for major social change in our world.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
