Language and Politics

786 Pages·1988·144.675 MB·

by  Noam Chomsky, Carlos P. Otero (editor)

Printed in Canada
LANGUAGE
AND
POLITICS
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 1 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 2 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
ll1lll!ll~•e:r,mtir11
LANGUAGE
AND
POLITICS
EDITED BY C.P. OTERO
BLACK
ROSE
BOOKS
lloltrili·IINY.t
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 3 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
Acknowledgement
We are greatly indebted to the interviewers and to the publications, referenced
in the Editor's Notes, where the interviews first appeared.
Rept·inted in 2017
Copyright 1988 © Reprinted 1999
Editor's Preliminary Note, Introduction and Editor's Notes, Carlos Peregin Otero
BLACK ROSE BOOKS Ltd.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any fonn by means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval, without written permission from the publisher,
except for brief passages quoted by a reviewer in a newspaper or magazine.
BLACK ROSE BOOKS No. Q 129
Hardcover ISBN: 0-921689-35-7
Paperback ISBN: 0-921689-34-9
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Chomsky, Noam
Language and politics
Bibliography: p.
ISBN 0-921689-35-7 (bound)
ISBN 0-921689-34-9 (pblc.)
1. Chomsky, Noam--Political and social views.
2. Language--Political aspects. I. Otero, Carlos
ll. Title.
Pll9.3.C46 1989 320 C89-090108-2
Cover design: Richard Parent
•
•
•
C.P. 35788 Succ. Leo Pariseau
Montreal, QC H2X OA4
CANADA
Explore our books and subscribe to our newsletter.
www.blackrosebooks.com
ORDERING INFORMATIO :
North America: K & Europe:
University of Toronto Press Central Books
1(800) 565-9523 (Toll Free)
[phone]
or [phone]
[email protected]
[email protected]
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 4 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
Contents
Page
List of abbreviations. .............................................................................1 4
Editor's Preliminary Note .................................................................... 17
Introduction: The third emandpatory phase of history
by Carlos P. Otero .......................................................................2 2
Justice vs power
Enlightenment vs inquisitionalism
Responsibility vs respectability
Innatism vs environmentalism
Anarchism vs elitism
Coda
Interviews
I
1. The intellectual as prophet (11 Apr 1968) 84
Vietnam and after
Differences between fields
The relation of logic and mathematics to linguistics
A dim or hopeful future?
2. A Cartesian view of language structure (May 1968) 100
Learning as an input-output relation
The abstract character of the structures
The disparity between data and knowledge
Common properties by biological necessity
Unconscious knowledge
Faculties of the mind
Limitations of common sense knowledge
3. The creative experience (Winter 1969) 116
Two sources of interest
From Freud to Kohler and Lashley
Explanation in linguistics
Concern about social issues
4. Linguistics and politics (Spring 1969) 132
The effectiveness of anti-war actions
Conditions for revolutionary change
Linguistics and a marxist-anarchist perspective
Romantic aesthetics and modem mathematics
5. Language and behaviorist psychology (Nov 1972) 150
Variety: Sources of happiness
Uniformity in language structures
Questions in English
Structure-dependent operations
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 5 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
Page
Synthesis of languages
"New economics": What it means
Behaviorist psychology
International authority
Opposition to leadership
6. The universities and the corporations (May 1973) 158
7. Class consciousness and the ideology of power
(6 Jan 1974) 166
Anarchism and class analysis
Marxism and Leninism
The state and the corporate system
Marx vs Skinner
8. Materialism in linguistics and the morality criterion
(28 Mar 1977) 198
A perplexing mystery
The ideological fields vs the natural sciences
The test of a moralist's sincerity
Free enterprise or fascist enterprise?
Sanitized history
An analogy for protesters
The moral level of an action
The American bloodbath
Will vs knowledge
Intellectuals as the new class
The pathetic fallacy
9. Oil imperialism and the U.S.-Israel relationship
(March 1977) 212
A shift from the policy of the mid-50s
Support for a two-state political settlement
An extremely hazardous game
A possibility of affecting government policy
10. Language theory and the theory of justice
(13 Oct 1977) 232
Realism: Plato's question
Modularity: A system of mental organs
The growth of a mental organ of moral evaluation
A Galilean revolution in linguistics?
The creativity of language and freedom of the will
Departments of Oppression and Death
The difference between student and faculty attitudes
11. Language and the human mind (29 Sep 1978) 252
Ontogentic development: From embryo to adult
The environment and the mind: Errors that
children never make
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 6 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
Page
The emergence and development of
generative grammar
Leamability and lanre;age teaching
12. On human rights and i eology (Oct 1979) 276
13. An American view of the ideological confrontation
of our time (3 Feb 1980) 284
Authentic socialism vs Leninism
The "game" being played by the superpowers
Support for huge atrocities
An academic counterpart to "fhe deerhunter"
The real fear
The illusion of free and open debate
Will human civilization survive until the 21st
century?
14. U.S. defense responsibility? (8 Apr 1981) 298
Supplement:
Corporate social responsibility? (Spring 1978)
15. Human rights and American foreign policy
(21 Sep 1981) 302
Most people are not gangsters
A system of disguising reality
"Authoritarian" vs "totalitarian"
Categories without policy implications
Carter's rhetoric had its value
16. The treachery of the intelligentsia: A French travesty
(16 Oct 1981) 308
Brainwashing under freedom
The task for the present
Contrasting views of 1968
Sheer fabrication
More widely read than in the 60s
Defense of "bourgeois freedoms"
A barrage of lies
A sad day for France
Freedom to express horrendous views
Evaluation of the Nazi genocide
Fascist-style institutions
The moral significance of one's work and actions
A deliberate effacement of the record
Revealing efforts to disguise the facts
The factor of primary concern
"Selective outrage" deconstructed
A struggle without end
17. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act (Jan 1982) 324
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 7 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
Page
The subservience of the ideological system
A clear and explicit threat to free expression
The "brazilianization" of American society
18. The barbarism of non-communist monsters
(Spring 1982) 332
Needs and wants
Too central a truth
No possibility of successful development
American terrorism against Cuba
The actual American impact upon the world
19. The lessons of the Vietnam war (Oct 1982) 338
20. The disarmament debate: New directions(15 Dec 1982) 346
21. America in the world (1 Feb 1983) 354
22. Priorities for the peace movement (4 Jun 1983) 360
Differences with the European disarmament
movement
Movements activity in the 1970s
A dismal record of reaching the public
Electoral tactics and popular support
Confrontation in the Middle East
23. Politics and science (16 Jun 1983) 368
i. Politics
A form of idiocy found in intellectual circles
Reasons for devoting political action to foreign policy
The forms of service of the "secular priesthood"
Assistance in "intellectual self-defense"
The power of the corporate system
The technique of feigned dissent
A truly revolutionary challenge
The usefulness of a "Great Satan"
ii. Science/Linguistics
A radically different conception of grammar
The search for experimental correlates
"Marxists" who understand little about science
or Marx
The contrast with Piaget
Generative grammar and psychoanalysis
Generative grammar and Bakunin's "instinct for
freedom"
Moral barriers to control and domination
24. The manufacture of consent (Summer 1983) 388
Discovering what is hidden
The plague of European civilization
An unending task
Subversive schooling
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 8 2015-02-23 1:54 PM
Page
A fundamental human need
Anarchism vs "Marxism"
25. Language as a key to human nature and society
(24 Sept 1983) 398
Is anything really learned?
Thought without language
Language without communication
A model for human studies
Limited scientific capacity
A condition of temporary ignorance?
26. Things no amount of learning can teach (Nov 1983) 406
A close parallel to embriology
Piaget vs Skinner
The riddle of free will
The new work in art and science
One major scientific revolution
27. American Middle East policy (18 Oct 1984) 420
28. The media as a mirror of society-but not quite in
the usual sense (21 Oct 1984) 436
A racist assumption
Something deeper
Attempt at inducement as fact
29. Tactics and strategies for the peace movement
(Nov 1984) 442
Stemming the flood at its source
An umbrella for intervention and aggression
The truth about the Soviet system
A catalyst to mass popular action
No magic answers
30. Aspects of a theory of mind (Late 1984) 450
Advances in the psychology of language
Innate ideas, universal grammar, and core grammar
The role of "parameters" in language acquisition
A general theory of learning?
Human intelligence and psychology as science
The instinctual basis of morality
31. Alternatives to the Cold War (5 Oct 1985) 470
32. The question for Canadians-and not only
Canadians (Nov 1985) 476
One crucial issue: National self-determination
The major danger of nuclear war
Using resources for domestic purposes
A weakened American position
The largest per capita military exporter in the world
The meaninglessness of arms negotiations
26831-Language_Politics_int_5875x875.indd 9 2015-02-23 1:54 PM