What Kind of Creatures Are We?

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Linguistics, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Cover of the book What Kind of Creatures Are We? by Noam Chomsky, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Noam Chomsky ISBN: 9780231540926
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: December 15, 2015
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Noam Chomsky
ISBN: 9780231540926
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: December 15, 2015
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

Noam Chomsky is widely known and deeply admired for being the founder of modern linguistics, one of the founders of the field of cognitive science, and perhaps the most avidly read political theorist and commentator of our time. In these lectures, he presents a lifetime of philosophical reflection on all three of these areas of research to which he has contributed for over half a century.

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 eventual biological basis. He expounds and criticizes many alternative theories, such as those that emphasize the social, the communicative, and the referential aspects of language. Chomsky reviews how new discoveries about language overcome what seemed to be highly problematic assumptions in the past. He also investigates the apparent scope and limits of human cognitive capacities and what the human mind can seriously investigate, in the light of history of science and philosophical reflection and current understanding. Moving from language and mind to society and politics, he concludes with a searching exploration and philosophical defense of a position he describes as "libertarian socialism," tracing its links to anarchism and the ideas of John Dewey, and even briefly to the ideas of Marx and Mill, demonstrating its conceptual growth out of our historical past and urgent relation to matters of the present.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Noam Chomsky is widely known and deeply admired for being the founder of modern linguistics, one of the founders of the field of cognitive science, and perhaps the most avidly read political theorist and commentator of our time. In these lectures, he presents a lifetime of philosophical reflection on all three of these areas of research to which he has contributed for over half a century.

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 eventual biological basis. He expounds and criticizes many alternative theories, such as those that emphasize the social, the communicative, and the referential aspects of language. Chomsky reviews how new discoveries about language overcome what seemed to be highly problematic assumptions in the past. He also investigates the apparent scope and limits of human cognitive capacities and what the human mind can seriously investigate, in the light of history of science and philosophical reflection and current understanding. Moving from language and mind to society and politics, he concludes with a searching exploration and philosophical defense of a position he describes as "libertarian socialism," tracing its links to anarchism and the ideas of John Dewey, and even briefly to the ideas of Marx and Mill, demonstrating its conceptual growth out of our historical past and urgent relation to matters of the present.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book Leader Communities by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Energy Kingdoms by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book The Task Planner by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book A Short Course in Reading French by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Reds at the Blackboard by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Worlds Without End by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Plastic Reality by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549) by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book The Japan–South Korea Identity Clash by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Jordan and the Arab Uprisings by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Japan, South Korea, and the United States Nuclear Umbrella by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book The Splendid Vision by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Social Work Practice Research for the Twenty-First Century by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book The Ethnic Avant-Garde by Noam Chomsky
Cover of the book Advocating for Children in Foster and Kinship Care by Noam Chomsky
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy