What Kind of Creatures Are We?: Columbia University Press

Noam Chomsky

Published by Columbia University Press 2015

What Kind of Creatures Are We?

Noam Chomsky

In the series Columbia Themes in Philosophy

https://doi.org/10.7312/chom17596

Overview
Contents

About this book

In clear, precise, and non-technical language, Chomsky elaborates on fifty years of scientific development in the study of language, sketching how his own work has implications for the origins of language, the close relations that language bears to thought, and its biological basis. Moving from language and mind to society and politics, he concludes with a philosophical defense of libertarian socialism.

Addressing the most fundamental themes defining our humanity: the uniquely human capacity for language, the nature and limits of the human mind, and the possibilities for the common good in human society and politics.

Author / Editor information

Noam Chomsky is professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs, and U.S. foreign policy. He is the author of more than one hundred books.

Reviews

A rewarding and challenging read.

Recommended.

Engaging.

Wallace Shawn, author, Essays:
It's always spring in Mr. Chomsky's garden. Like John Ashbery, Noam Chomsky seems to come up with thoughts that are always fresh, unaffected by the polluting cliches that most of us inhale and exhale all day and night. To read his sentences is a life-giving elixir.

Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center of the City University of New York:
Noam Chomsky launches this remarkable discussion with the age old question, "What kind of creatures are we?" Thus begins an extended inquiry into human cognition that takes him from the ancients to contemporary theorists of language and science, to politics. Chomsky's erudition is formidable, and I read his disquisition with pleasure and many "aha' moments. But what stands out for me is his wisdom; he accepts that being mere biological creatures, there is much that we can never know, and yet he is deeply empathetic with us, his fellow creatures who must struggle and try to impact our world, even though we ultimately cannot know.

Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University:
Noam Chomsky is arguably the most influential thinker of our time, having made seminal contributions to linguistics and philosophy, as well as political and social thought. In one succinct and powerfully argued volume, he presents a synthesis of his key ideas.

Robert May, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy & Linguistics, University of California, Davis:
Chomsky's writings invariably reflect the force of intellect and cogency of thought that befits one of the greatest thinkers of our times—this work is no exception.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
1. What is language? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. What can we understand? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
3. What is the common good? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
4. The mysteries of nature: how deeply hidden? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 200

eBook

Published: December 15, 2015
ISBN: 9780231540926