La lutte ou la chute !: Entretiens avec Emren Feroz

by Noam Chomsky

En 2018, le journaliste allemand Emran Feroz a mené une série d'entretiens avec Noam Chomsky à l'université d'Arizona, près de la frontière avec le Mexique. Ce grand analyste de notre époque y discute notamment de ce qu'on a appelle à tort la «crise des migrants» et de l'impérialisme, du réchauffement planétaire et de la menace nucléaire, de la présidence de Donald Trump, de la responsabilité des intellectuels, des religions et de l'éducation. Le sentiment d'urgence face à la situation qui se détériore aiguise le regard critique de Chomsky sans pour autant lui faire perdre son «optimisme de la volonté». À lire pour faire le point sur l'état du monde.Noam Chomsky, professeur émérite au Massachusetts Institute of Technology et à l'Université d'Arizona, est un intellectuel et militant reconnu internationalement pour la profondeur de ses réflexions et sa défense radicale de la liberté et de la raison. Ses critiques de la politique internationale américaine et du pouvoir des médias ont inspiré une foule de penseurs contemporains. Il est considéré comme l'un des pères de la linguistique moderne.

128 pages, Paperback

Published June 2, 2020

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

[Charles Taillon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bon livre qui décrit bien les problèmes passés et actuels. Chomsky fait, comme toujours, une excellente revue des causes menant aux crises actuels à travers une perspective écologiste, humanitaire et marxiste. Malgré cela, ce livre demeure dans la description des problèmes sans proposer de solutions autres que de rappeler que les mouvements de contestation ont eu un impact par le passé.
4.4/5

[Laurier · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai été agréablement surpris par l'entrevue, les questions sont variées et abordent les sujets suffisamment en profondeur tout en restant accessibles au grand public. Bref, est toujours pertinent et d'actualité 5 ans plus tard!

[Emmanuel Deroeux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un dialogue percutant qui allie profondeur intellectuelle et accessibilité, offrant une perspective critique essentielle sur les enjeux contemporains. Une lecture incontournable pour quiconque cherche à comprendre et remettre en question l'ordre établi.

[A YOGAM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man liest dieses Buch, um sich deprimierter als je zuvor über den Zustand der Welt zu fühlen – und wird dabei immerhin mit der tröstlichen Gewissheit belohnt, intellektuell vollkommen im Recht zu sein.