Experts
Noam Chomsky
Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Ethical Dilemmas: Should I Protest Against My Government and Risk Jail Time?
Noam Chomsky recounts how his anti-Vietnam War activities nearly jeopardized his family. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In History, Truth & Justice
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Noam Chomsky on Love: “Life’s empty without it.”
The MIT linguistics professor on life without his wife. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Love, Sex, & Happiness
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Noam Chomsky on Language’s Great Mysteries
Noam Chomsky contemplates the basic, yet still unanswerable, questions of linguistics. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Arts & Culture
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A Real Cure For the Auto Industry
While The Ford Motor Company made news this afternoon with its first quarterly profits in more than four years, Noam Chomsky explains why vague references to 'cost-cutting' and a dependence on government programs are exactly the wrong approach to fixing the industry's deep-seated problems. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Business & Economics, Politics & Policy
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Noam Chomsky on Cutting the Cost of Drugs
Noam Chomsky laments the wide gulf between public policy and public attitudes towards the cost of drugs. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Health & Medicine, Politics & Policy
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When Paying Taxes Became Un-American
In a functioning democracy, Noam Chomsky claims, people would celebrate on tax day—why then do most Americans view every April 15th as a day of mourning? Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
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Democracy: America’s Oldest Spectator Sport
Noam Chomsky discusses the limits of civic participation in the U.S., and the extensive efforts that political and business elites have made to keep it that way. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Politics & Policy, Truth & Justice
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Noam Chomsky explains why “that feeling of helplessness” and “impotence” is the natural response to American democracy. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Politics & Policy
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Noam Chomsky’s Trick for Avoiding Political Letdown: Low Expectations
Obama hasn’t disappointed Chomsky yet--but the linguist didn’t expect much from him anyway. Read More
August 26, 2009 | In Future, Politics & Policy
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What is the best way forward in Iraq?
The West, as aggressors in the region, have responsibilities, but not rights, Chomsky says. Read More
March 25, 2008 | In Politics & Policy, World
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How will the changing global powers impact the Israel-Palestine conflict?
The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most serious in the world. Read More
March 25, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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How do you see the global power dynamic in 2008?
Chomsky talks about the three major world power systems: North America, Europe and Northeast Asia Read More
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What are your thoughts about the passing of William F. Buckley?
Chomsky was a guest on Buckley's "Firing Line" in 1969. Read More
March 25, 2008 | In Life & Death, Politics & Policy
Noam Avram Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 7, 1928. He attended the University of Pennsylvania where he studied linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. In 1955, he received his Ph. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, however, most of the research leading to this degree was done at Harvard between 1951 and 1955. Since receiving his Ph. D., Chomsky has taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he now holds the Ferrari P. Ward Chair of Modern Language and Linguistics.
Among his many accomplishments, he is most famous for his work on generative grammar, which developed from his interest in modern logic and mathematical foundations. As a result, he applied it to the description of natural languages.
His political tendencies toward socialism and anarchism are a result of what he calls "the radical Jewish community in New York." Since 1965 he has become one of the leading critics of U.S. foreign policy. He published a book of essays called American Power and the New Mandarins which is considered to be one of the most substantial arguments ever against American involvement in Vietnam.
