Abstract
Noam Chomsky is a revolutionary twice over, something of a reluctant revolutionary in both cases. Chomsky has led a revolution in our thinking about higher human mental capacities, with a wide-ranging impact on modern thought. With rigorous logic and a wealth of evidence, Chomsky has refuted the prevailing view that the human mind is initially empty and unstructured, with just an all-purpose learning capability accounting for all its higher processes. In relation to language, Chomsky demonstrated that adult humans know many more (abstract and complex) grammatical rules than they are ever explicitly taught, or that could be derived from the limited and imperfect information they receive while growing up (Chomsky, 1979). Initially, Chomsky considered what turned out to be the beginnings of his political revolutionary work to be merely an interesting hobby, compared to the procedural linguistics that dominated the profession. He famously realized that ‘maybe the hobby was really the right way to proceed and the other one was a dead end’ during a bout of seasickness while crossing the Atlantic (Chomsky, 2001: 209–210). While his early breakthroughs in linguistics were to a considerable extent an individual struggle against the dominant empiricist framework of the 1950s, Chomsky was quick to unearth, and connect his work to, the longer history of rationalist thought going back to the 17th century (Chomsky, 1966).
Keywords
- Nuclear Disarmament
- Contemporary Relevance
- Spiritual Transformation
- Decent Society
- Revolutionary Process
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Arendt, H., Chomsky, N., O’Brien, C. C., Sontag, S. et al. (1967) ‘The Legitimacy of Violence as a Political Act? Noam Chomsky debates with Hannah Arendt, Susan Sontag, et al.’, 15 December 1967. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/debates/19671215.htm (accessed 26 August 2014).
Albert, M. (2003) Parecon: Life after Capitalism. London and New York: Verso.
Albert, M. (2005) ‘Argentine Self Management’, ZCommunications, 3 November 2005. http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/argentine-self-management-by-michael-albert/ (accessed 26 August 2014).
Albert, M., Cagan, L., Chomsky, N., Hahnel, R., King, M., Sargent, L. & Sklar, H. (1986) Liberating Theory. Boston: South End Press.
Brinton, M. (2004) ‘The Bolsheviks and Workers’ Control, 1917–1921: The State and Counter-Revolution’, in Brinton, M. (ed.) For Workers’ Power: The Selected Writings of Maurice Brinton. Oakland and Edinburgh: AK Press.
Chomsky, N. (1966) Cartesian Linguistics: A Chapter in the History of Rationalist Thought. New York: Harper & Row.
Chomsky, N. (1969a) American Power and the New Mandarins. London: Penguin Books.
Chomsky, N. (1969b) ‘The Ethics of Intervention—Noam Chomsky Debates with Stanley Hoffmann’, The New York Review of Books, 27 March 1969, Web. http://www.chomsky.info/debates/19690327.htm (accessed 6 July 2013).
Chomsky, N. (1970) ‘Knowledge and Power: Intellectuals in the Welfare-Warfare State’, in Long, Priscilla (ed.) The New Left: A Collection of Essays. Boston: Porter Sargent.
Chomsky, N. (1972) Problems of Knowledge and Freedom. London: Barrie & Jenkins.
Chomsky, N. (1973) For Reasons of State. London: Fontana/Collins.
Chomsky, N. (1975) ‘Toward a Humanistic Conception of Education’, in Feinberg, W. and Rosemount, H. (eds.) Work, Technology and Education: Dissenting Essays in the Intellectual Foundations of American Education. Chicago and London: University of Illinois Press.
Chomsky, N. (1979) Language and Responsibility: Based on Conversations with Mitsou Ronat. Hassocks: Harvester Press.
Chomsky, N. (1981) Radical Priorities. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
Chomsky, N. (1982) Towards a New Cold War: Essays on the Current Crisis and How We Got There. London: Sinclair Browne.
Chomsky, N. (1983a) ‘The Psychology of Language and Thought: Noam Chomsky Interviewed by Robert W. Rieber’, in Rieber, Robert W. (ed.) Dialogues on the Psychology of Language and Thought, New York: Plenum. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1983.htm (accessed 28 March 2013).
Chomsky, N. (1983b) ‘Things No Amount of Learning Can Teach: Noam Chomsky Interviewed by John Gliedman’, Omni, 6:2. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/198311-.htm (accessed 15 June 2013).
Chomsky, N. (1985) Turning the Tide: US Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace. Boston: South End Press.
Chomsky, N. (1986) ‘The Soviet Union versus Socialism’, in Our Generation, Spring/Summer 1986. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1986.htm (accessed 26 August 2014).
Chomsky, N. (1987a) The Chomsky Reader. London: Serpents Tail.
Chomsky, N. (1987b) On Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures. Boston: South End Press.
Chomsky, N. (1988) Language and Politics. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
Chomsky, N. (1992) ‘Creeping Fascism’. New York, 26 April. Transcript provided by David Barsamian of a talk organised by WBAI-FM radio station, part of Pacifica Radio.
Chomsky, N. (1993) Keeping the Rabble in Line: Interviews with David Barsamian. Monroe: Common Courage Press.
Chomsky, N. (1997) ‘Expanding the Floor of the Cage: Noam Chomsky interviewed by David Barsamian’, Z Magazine, April 1997. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/199704--.htm (accessed 24 August 2014).
Chomsky, N. (1999) ‘Graduate Ceremony Address: Noam Chomsky’, 16 May 1999, University of Connecticut. Web. http://www.commencement.uconn.edu/history/speeches/1999/1999_Chomsky.html (accessed 24 August 2014).
Chomsky, N. (2001) Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with David Barsamian. London: Pluto Press.
Chomsky, N. (2002) Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky. New York: New Press.
Chomsky, N. (2003) Chomsky on Democracy and Education. New York: Routledge Farmer.
Chomsky, N. (2004) ‘Anarchism’, Interviewed by Ziga Vodovnik, 14 July. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20040714.htm (accessed 19 August 2014).
Chomsky, N. (2005a) Chomsky on Anarchism. Edinburgh, Oakland and West Virginia: AK Press.
Chomsky, N. (2005b) Government in the Future. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Chomsky, N. (2008) The Essential Chomsky. New York: New Press.
Chomsky, N. (2012) Occupy. London: Penguin.
Chomsky, N. (2013) ‘Noam Chomsky on Revolutionary Violence, Communism and the American Left’, Interviewed by Christopher Helali, Pax Marxista, 12 March. Web. http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20130312.htm (accessed 19 August 2014).
Chomsky, N., & Herman, E. S. (1979) The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism: The Political Economy of Human Rights, Volume 1. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
Chomsky, N., Lauter, P. & Howe, F. (1970) ‘Reflections on a Political Trial’, in Trials of the Resistance, New York: New York Review of Books, 22 August, 23–30.
Cohen, J. & Rogers, J. (1991) ‘Knowledge, Morality and Hope: The Social Thought of Noam Chomsky’, New Left Review, 187, 5–27.
Cole, G. D. H (2011) Guild Socialism Restated. Abingdon & New York: Routledge.
Ferber, M. (1993) Interviewed by Milan Rai, University of Maryland, New Hampshire, 28 April.
Gorz, A. (1967) Strategy for Labor: A Radical Proposal. Boston: Beacon Press.
Hinton, W. (2008) Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Luxemburg, R. (1904) Organizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy [Leninism or Marxism?]. Web. http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1904/questions-rsd/ch02.htm (accessed 5 July 2013).
Rai, M. (1995) Chomsky’s Politics. London: Verso.
Trotsky, L. (1904) Our Political Tasks. Web. http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1904/tasks/ch03.htm (accessed 5 July 2013).
Unofficial Reform Committee (1912) The Miners’ Next Step. Being a Suggested Scheme for the Reorganisation of the Federation. Tonypandy: Robert Davies & Co. Web. http://www.llgc.org.uk/ymgyrchu/Llafur/1926/MNS.htm (accessed 24 August 2014).
Vancouver Parecon Collective (2004) ‘Looking Backward, Looking Forward’, ZCommunications. http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/looking-backward-looking-forward-by-vancouver-parecon-collective/ (accessed 24 August 2014).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Milan Rai
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rai, M. (2015). Chomsky and Revolution. In: Edgley, A. (eds) Noam Chomsky. Critical Explorations in Contemporary Political Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-32021-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-32021-6_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56778-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-32021-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)