A 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. -- The Revolutionary -- The Language Machine -- A Man Of His Time -- The Most Hideous Institution On This Earth -- The Cognitive Revolution -- The Tower Of Babel -- The Pentagon's 'new Tower' -- Machine Translation : The Great Folly -- A Universal Alphabet Of Sounds -- Russian Formalist Roots -- Incantation By Laughter -- Tatlin's Tower -- An Instinct For Freedom -- The Linguistics Wars -- Between Colliding Tectonic Plates -- The Escapologist -- The Soul Mutation -- Carburettor And Other Innate Concepts -- A Scientific Revolution? -- Mindless Activism, Tongue-tied Science -- Chomsky's Tower -- Before Language -- The Human Revolution. Chris Knight. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 246-276) And Index.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Brandywine River Museum

Mariners' Museum, The

Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2016

United States, United States of America

First Edition, US, 2016

lg2368888

"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."--Rabat de la jaquette

2021-11-03