Noam Chomsky?

Crap
Total votes: 8 (10%)
Not Crap
Total votes: 74 (90%)
Total votes: 82

Linguist - Author - Historian: Noam Chomsky

173
newberry wrote:can we get back on track re: chomsky, folks?


I'll bite:

The Chomsky Hierarchy: Not crap as far as I understand it.
Syntactics: Not crap, but he is not the visionary that many people claim.
Universal Grammar: elements are brilliant, elements not so brilliant. His most important idea. Not Crap overall. A scientific/materialist approach to language? Yes please.
His personal politics: I don't pay as much attention as I do to his other stuff, he is snappy at times but overall he's pretty small-fry. I don't think he has said anything important himself.
His almost Ayn Rand-ish dismissal of philosophy, European thought and pretty much any idea outside of cheezy Yank rationalism, calling Saussere, Lacan, and others "charlatans": he can go fuck himself, or at least take a page out of the Zizek book and at least be funny when he dismisses books that he doesn't care to read.
His personality: Vile.

Linguist - Author - Historian: Noam Chomsky

180
Mazec wrote:
big_dave wrote:His personality: Vile.


I've never gotten much of an idea of what Chomsky's like on a personal basis. What is it about him that makes his personality vile?


A few years ago, The New Yorker published a long profile of him called "The Devil's Accountant." (Only the first few pages are available online, but they're worth reading.) He has a reputation for being a tyrant in the classroom, with absolutely no patience for dissent.

I remember it being a pretty interesting read, and in spite of the negative stuff shown in the excerpts online, it's not a hit piece.
My grunge/northwest rock blog

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests