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Birth of Chomsky and Early Life
Noam was born on December 7, 1928 to a middle class Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended an elementary school where he developed his interests and talents through self directed learning. -
Who is Chomsky?
Chomsky is best known for his works as a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, as well as his contributions in social critic and political activism. He earned his doctorate in 1955 with his thesis developing the theory of transformational grammar. -
Syntactic Structures
In 1957 while teaching at MIT, Chomsky published a book called Syntactic Structures which had a major impact on the study of knowledge and mental processes and is considered an influential work in the formation of cognitive science. Chomsky is known as one of the founders of cognitive science, as well as a father of modern linguistics. Chomsky, Noam. Syntactic Structures. Mouton, 1957. -
Bad Behaviorism
In 1959 Chomsky was critical of B.F. Skinner's work "Verbal Behavior" which sought to explain how language acquisition and operant conditioning go together. Due in part to Chomsky's idea of a language acquisition device, Skinner's linguistic behaviorism eventually declined in popularity. Watch this great video for more insight to Chomsky's idea of a language acquisition device. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cgpfw4z8cw -
Politics
Chomsky was very critical of the US involvement in the Vietnam War which he, along with many Americans at the time, viewed as more American imperialism. His 1967 essay titled "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" garnered national attention for its anti-war stance. Chomsky's political activism lead him to be arrested multiple times and even end up on President Nixon's "Enemies List". Chomsky, Noam (February 23, 1967). "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" The New York Review of Books. -
Overall Contribution to Philosophy and Science
Chomsky's overall contributions to analytic philosophy is in his quest to uncover structures that govern language. He is still teaching and continues to contribute to the philosophy of science as a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Arizona.
