The Responsibility of Intellectuals

The Responsibility of Intellectuals PDF Author: Noam Chomsky
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973642
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Selected by Newsweek as one of “14 nonfiction books you’ll want to read this fall” Fifty years after it first appeared, one of Noam Chomsky’s greatest essays will be published for the first time as a timely stand-alone book, with a new preface by the author As a nineteen-year-old undergraduate in 1947, Noam Chomsky was deeply affected by articles about the responsibility of intellectuals written by Dwight Macdonald, an editor of Partisan Review and then of Politics. Twenty years later, as the Vietnam War was escalating, Chomsky turned to the question himself, noting that "intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments" and to analyze their "often hidden intentions." Originally published in the New York Review of Books, Chomsky's essay eviscerated the "hypocritical moralism of the past" (such as when Woodrow Wilson set out to teach Latin Americans "the art of good government") and exposed the shameful policies in Vietnam and the role of intellectuals in justifying it. Also included in this volume is the brilliant "The Responsibility of Intellectuals Redux," written on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which makes the case for using privilege to challenge the state. As relevant now as it was in 1967, The Responsibility of Intellectuals reminds us that "privilege yields opportunity and opportunity confers responsibilities." All of us have choices, even in desperate times.

The Responsibility of Intellectuals

The Responsibility of Intellectuals PDF Author: Noam Chomsky
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973642
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Get Book

Book Description
Selected by Newsweek as one of “14 nonfiction books you’ll want to read this fall” Fifty years after it first appeared, one of Noam Chomsky’s greatest essays will be published for the first time as a timely stand-alone book, with a new preface by the author As a nineteen-year-old undergraduate in 1947, Noam Chomsky was deeply affected by articles about the responsibility of intellectuals written by Dwight Macdonald, an editor of Partisan Review and then of Politics. Twenty years later, as the Vietnam War was escalating, Chomsky turned to the question himself, noting that "intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments" and to analyze their "often hidden intentions." Originally published in the New York Review of Books, Chomsky's essay eviscerated the "hypocritical moralism of the past" (such as when Woodrow Wilson set out to teach Latin Americans "the art of good government") and exposed the shameful policies in Vietnam and the role of intellectuals in justifying it. Also included in this volume is the brilliant "The Responsibility of Intellectuals Redux," written on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which makes the case for using privilege to challenge the state. As relevant now as it was in 1967, The Responsibility of Intellectuals reminds us that "privilege yields opportunity and opportunity confers responsibilities." All of us have choices, even in desperate times.

The Responsibility of Intellectuals

The Responsibility of Intellectuals PDF Author: Nicholas Allott
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781787355521
Category : Intellectuals
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
With the publication of "The Responsibility of Intellectuals," Noam Chomsky burst onto the US political scene as a leading critic of the war in Vietnam. Privilege, he argues, brings with it the responsibility to tell the truth and expose lies, but our intellectual culture only pays lip service to this ideal. The essay has been described as the "single most influential piece of anti-war literature" of the Vietnam war period. Since then, Chomsky has continued to equip a growing international audience with the facts and arguments needed to understand--and change--our world. According to the New York Times, Chomsky "may be the most widely read American voice on foreign policy on the planet today." This book revisits "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" half a century later. It includes six new essays written to celebrate Chomsky's famous intervention and explore its relevance in today's world. Nicholas Allott, Chris Knight, Milan Rai, and Neil Smith have studied and written about Chomsky's thought for many years, while Craig Murray and Jackie Walker describe the personal price they have paid for speaking out. The book concludes with Chomsky's recollections of the background to the original publication of his essay, followed by extensive commentary from him on its fiftieth anniversary.

Noam Chomsky: On Power, Knowledge and Human Nature

Noam Chomsky: On Power, Knowledge and Human Nature PDF Author: P. Wilkin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230375049
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Noam Chomsky is among the most influential contemporary thinkers. Peter Wilkin looks in particular at the philosophical basis of his social and political thought, especially his ideal about power, knowledge and human nature. He shows how Chomsky's ideas can help to defend naturalism as in social and political thought. Chomsky's critical writings of social inquiry and his normative ideas on libertarian socialism and human emancipation are interpreted as synthesising a number of important ideas and approaches at a time when these ideas have fallen out of favour.

Representations of the Intellectual

Representations of the Intellectual PDF Author: Edward W. Said
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307829626
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
In these six essays--delivered on the BBC as the prestigious Reith Lectures--Edward Said addresses the ways in which the intellectual can best serve society in the light of a heavily compromised media and of special interest groups who are protected at the cost of larger community concerns. Said suggests a recasting of the intellectual's vision to resist the lures of power, money, and specialization. In these pieces, Said eloquently illustrates his arguments by drawing on such writers as Antonio Gramsci, Jean-Paul Sartre, Regis Debray, Julien Benda, and Theodore Adorno, and by discussing current events and celebrated figures in the world of science and politics: Robert Oppenheimer, Henry Kissinger, Dan Quayle, Vietnam and the Gulf War. Said sees the modern intellectual as an editor, journalist, academic, or political adviser--in other words, a highly specialized professional--who has moved from a position of independence to an alliance with powerful corporate, institutional, or governmental organizations. He concludes that it is the exile-immigrant, the expatriate, and the amateur who must uphold the traditional role of the intellectual as the voice of integrity and courage, able to speak out against those in power.

Intellectuals and Society

Intellectuals and Society PDF Author: Thomas Sowell
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465031102
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
The influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by those like Machiavelli and others who have wanted to directly influence rulers. It has not been by shaping the opinions or directing the actions of the holders of power that modern intellectuals have most influenced the course of events, but by shaping public opinion in ways that affect the actions of power holders in democratic societies, whether or not those power holders accept the general vision or the particular policies favored by intellectuals. Even government leaders with disdain or contempt for intellectuals have had to bend to the climate of opinion shaped by those intellectuals. Intellectuals and Society not only examines the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also analyzes the incentives and constraints under which their views and visions have emerged. One of the most surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong, but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society -- and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views.

The Treason of the Intellectuals

The Treason of the Intellectuals PDF Author: Julien Benda
Publisher: W. W. Norton
ISBN:
Category : Intellectuals
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description


The Responsibility of Intellectuals

The Responsibility of Intellectuals PDF Author: Alan M. Wald
Publisher: Humanity Books
ISBN: 9781573924337
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This collection brings together many of Alan M. Wald's most influential and original essays. They provide a richly provocative inquiry into the antinomies of cultural radicalism and are characterized by Wald's blend of meticulous research and lucid, incisive theory.

The Essential Chomsky

The Essential Chomsky PDF Author: Noam Chomsky
Publisher: New Press/ORIM
ISBN: 1595585664
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
The seminal writings of America’s leading philosopher, linguist, and political thinker—“the foremost gadfly of our national conscience” (The New York Times). For the past fifty years Noam Chomsky’s writings on politics and language have established him as a preeminent public intellectual as well as one of the most original political and social critics of our time. Among the seminal figures in linguistic theory over the past century, Chomsky has also secured a place among the most influential dissident voice in the United States. Chomsky’s many bestselling works—including Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Understanding Power, and Failed States—have served as essential touchstones for activists, scholars, and concerned citizens on subjects ranging from the media and intellectual freedom to human rights and war crimes. In particular, Chomsky’s scathing critique of the US wars in Vietnam, Central America, and the Middle East have furnished a widely accepted intellectual premise for antiwar movements for nearly four decades. The Essential Chomsky assembles the core of his most important writings, including excerpts from his most influential texts over the past half century. Here is an unprecedented, comprehensive overview of the thought that animates “one of the West’s most influential intellectuals in the cause of peace” (The Independent). “Chomsky ranks with Marx, Shakespeare, and the Bible as one of the ten most quoted sources in the humanities—and is the only writer among them still alive.” —The Guardian “Noam Chomsky is one of the most significant challengers of unjust power and delusions; he goes against every assumption about American altruism and humanitarianism.” —Edward Said “A rebel without a pause.” —Bono

Black Intellectuals

Black Intellectuals PDF Author: William M. Banks
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393316742
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
In this "important book, significant because it highlights the diversity and richness of Afro-American intellectual life" ("New York Times Book Review"), William Banks offers a centuries-deep analysis of black life in America, from the days of slavery and oppression to intellectuals of the modern age such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, Toni Morrison, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Photos.

Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments

Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments PDF Author: R. Jay Wallace
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674268210
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
R. Jay Wallace advances a powerful and sustained argument against the common view that accountability requires freedom of will. Instead, he maintains, the fairness of holding people responsible depends on their rational competence: the power to grasp moral reasons and to control their behavior accordingly. He shows how these forms of rational competence are compatible with determinism. At the same time, giving serious consideration to incompatibilist concerns, Wallace develops a compelling diagnosis of the common assumption that freedom is necessary for responsibility.