Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship

by Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky’s classic critique of the ideology of liberalism that justified American imperialist foreign policy during the 1960s—a critique that remains relevant to this day “Provocative . . . Chomsky establishes the premise that the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia was little more than updated imperialism.” — Publishers Weekly Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship is Noam Chomsky’s powerful indictment of a liberal intelligentsia that provided self-serving arguments for war in Vietnam, legitimizing U.S. commitment to autocratic rule, intervention in Asia and, ultimately, the “pacification” of millions. As America today continues to engage in “regime change” in the Middle East and South America and elsewhere in the world, Chomsky’s words remain prophetic. Included here is Chomsky’s classic analysis of the Spanish Civil War as a revolutionary war from below, laying bare scholarly elites’ hostility to mass movements and social change. This hostility, and the technocratic neoliberalism birthed in its wake, reveals not objectivity, but its opposite—the use of ideology to mask self-interest and obeisance to power. Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship is a crucial contribution to our age, and an indispensable lens through which to consider mainstream justifications for militarism today.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spain

144 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2003

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a dense, nearly impenetrable overview largely of anti-anarchist actions during the Spanish Civil War. I find a lot of Chomsky a briar patch of language. So, maybe it is just me. Here he relies on and basically destroys Gabriel Jackson and his view on this history in The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39.

The complexities of modern society that baffled and confounded the unsuspecting anarchist workers of Barcelona, as Jackson enumerates them, were the following: the accumulating food and supply problems and the administration of frontier posts, villages, and public utilities. As just noted, the food and supply problems seem to have accumulated most rapidly under the brilliant leadership of Juan Comorera. So far as the frontier posts are concerned, the situation, as Jackson elsewhere de-scribes it (p. 368), was basically as follows: "In Catalonia the anarchists had, ever since July 18, controlled the customs stations at the French border. On April 17, 1937, the reorganized carabineros, acting on orders of the Finance Minister, Juan Negrín, began to reoccupy the frontier. At least eight anarchists were killed in clashes with the carabineros." Apart from this difficulty, admittedly serious, there seems little rea-son to suppose that the problem of manning frontier posts contributed to the ebbing of the revolutionary tide.

Seeing as how we have an Executive amok in this nation, I was drawn to this aside. McGeorge Bundy delivered the Godkin Lectures at Harvard University in March 1968, which became the basis for his influential book, The Strength of Government (1968). Bundy was National Security Advisor in the Johnson administration.

For a glimpse of what may lie ahead, consider the Godkin lectures of McGeorge Bundy,* recently delivered at Harvard. Bundy urges that more power be concentrated in the executive branch of the government, now "dangerously weak in relation to its present tasks." That the powerful executive will act with justice and wisdom-this presumably needs no argument. As an example of the superior executive who should be attracted to government and given still greater power, Bundy cites Robert McNamara." Nothing could reveal more clearly the dangers inherent in the "new society" than the role that McNamara's Pentagon has played for the past half-dozen years.

[Jessie B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but dense and a little dated

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chomsky is many things, but light reading is not one of them. For those who may have delved into his brilliant examination, "Manufacturing Consent" or have managed to decipher his books on linguistics, here's a much easier tome to digest. Chomsky again challenges the "fair and balanced" mindset of contemporary scholarship, meting out laudable does of critical insight into what passes for information in America. A call to every citizen to think WHILE they read, Objectivity... may be historically dated (there's much Vietnam-era info. here), but that does not diminish its place as an insightful book. If freedom of thought and action is a truly valuable commodity in your personal economy, check this one out.
Students: this is also a great prep book for the GRE/SAT: it's sure to get your synapses blazing.

[Sam Snideman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book with some interesting perspectives. Objectivity in one's scholarship is something that is knocked in to the head of every grad student in the social/political sciences (at least every grad student I've ever known). Chomsky, I think, does a good job of illustrating that objectivity is something that is sometimes merely used as a cover for other goals (the furtherance of a political agenda, for example). I gave it 3 stars, but would have given it 3.5 if I could have. I think for people who engage in social and political research, the book's a valuable read and at least will force you to examine what prejudices may exist in your work.

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only read this because it was published by Black & Red. I can sort of see why it would be published because of it's critical view towards academia and/or politicians and/or Communists, but ultimately, it just falls into the realm of ridiculous humanist desires for Truth. Also despite what other reviewers are saying, it isn't particularly dense, there's just historical references and names that aren't really completely necessary to know to understand Chomsky's line of thinking.

[Michal Wigal]

The densest Chomsky I've read. Unless you're a Chomsky completist look elsewhere.

[DJ Meunier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little over my head but a solid read.