Chomsky and Deconstruction: The Politics of Unconscious Knowledge

by Christopher Wise

"Chomsky and Deconstruction" responds to Noam Chomsky's criticisms of prominent theorists by exploring the historical dimensions of the prominant linguist's own philosophy of language. Wise suggests that the Cartesian basis of Chomsky's own thought complicates his claims to have escaped the ancient problems of metaphysics. This book offers a measured response to criticisms of deconstructive and empiricist theorists of language such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Lacan. It also explores the necessary relation between Chomsky's linguistic theories and politics by clarifying their shared philosophical basis.

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Carrie]

I'm all for a critique of Chomsky but this is somewhat hard to read because of the guy's vitriol -- SO angry! At any rate very interesting - claims the reason Chomsky keeps his Linguistic intellectual life separate from his Political activism is that his early Linguistic work was funded by the US government. So his activism has to happen as coming from a private citizen, not from a "paid servant of the nation state." He also keeps claiming the Chomsky does not "know" this or that, is "unaware" of this or that, and I somehow doubt Chomsky doesn't know these things, (though maybe?) but I would instead question why he overlooks them, why they are not useful to his theories. Wise also claims if Chomsky had read Kant during the writing his first book on Linguistics, then that reading would have debunked the whole linguistic theory that he was proposing. Chomsky's being and/or portraying himself as absolute authority in so many ways is questionable, should be questioned though, so I'm glad to read this. I'm also interested in the way that he is critiquing conservative establishments yet he himself is one. And the reason, I suppose, that he attacked deconstruction is an attempt to hold on to that authority, which in itself is always a conservative force.