Powers and Prospects: Reflections on Nature and the Social Order

by Noam Chomsky

Overview

From the nature of democracy to our place in the natural world, from intellectual politics to the politics of language, Powers and Prospects provides a scathing critique of orthodox views and government policy, and outlines other paths that can lead to better understanding an more constructive action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608464241
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	07/21/2015
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	146,292
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. A member of the American Academy of Science, he has published widely in both linguistics and current affairs. His books include At War with Asia, Towards a New Cold War, Fateful Triangle: The U. S., Israel and the Palestinians, Necessary Illusions, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy, Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy and Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Preface xi

1 Language and Thought: Some Reflections on Venerable Themes 1

The First Cognitive Revolution

The Second Cognitive Revolution

The Language Faculty

Unification Problems

Knowledge of Language

2 Language and Nature 41

Naturalism and Language-World Relations: Weak and Strong Theses

The Materialist Orthodoxy

The Externalist Orthodoxy

Language as a Natural Object

3 Writers and Intellectual Responsibility 71

4 Goals and Visions 91

Goals versus Visions

The 'Humanistic Conception'

'The New Spirit of the Age'

Voices of Resistance

'Tough Love'

5 Democracy and Markets in the New World Order 121

'Enduring Truths'

Markets in the Real World

Democracy: 'Containing the People'

'Free Market Conservatism'

Towards the End of History: the Utopia of the Masters

6 The Middle East Settlement: Its Sources and Contours 171

'What We Say Goes'

The Strategic Conception

'Stalemate'

'Victor's Peace': the Oslo Agreements

Terror and Punishment

Development Programs and Plans

'Human Dust and the Waste of Society'

7 The Great Powers and Human Rights: the Case of East Timor 219

Forbidden Territory

Asian Values

Western Values

'The Welfare of the World Capitalist System' and 'The Problem of Indonesia'

The Problem Solved

The Problem of East Timor

8 East Timor and World Order 265

The Rule of Law

International Responsibilities

Pragmatism and National Interest

Endnotes 289

Index 303