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Perspectives on Power*

Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order

Noam Chomsky
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In this wide-ranging intellectual tour de force, Noam Chomsky sets down his thoughts on topics ranging from language and human nature, to the Middle East settlement and the role of East Timor in the New World Order.

This is the first collection to bring together questions of philosophy, ethics, and foreign policy. It will be of interest to both the general reader who is new to Chomsky's political and linguistic work, and to the avid Chomsky reader who will discover new writing on current topics.

It includes concise essays on Chomsky's philosophical approach to linguistics; on the role of the “cognitive revolution” in linguistics; and on the way scientific questions are asked, answered, and influenced by dominant ways of thinking. Essays on the intellectual responsibilities of writers provide a bridge from his chapters on human nature to four strong pieces on current issues in international affairs.

Chomsky's refreshingly clear views of the world and the nature of things are supported by a wealth of detail. In a rare article he reveals his own personal political goals and visions for change.

POLITICS/PHILOSOPHY
272 pages, bibliography, index
Paperback ISBN 1-55164-048-1 $23.99
Hardcover ISBN 1-55164-049-X $52.99

Prices are in Canadian dollars in Canada and in US dollars elsewhere

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@TITLE = PERSPECTIVES ON POWER @TOCLN = Table of Contents @TOC = Foreword by Agio Pereira @TOC = Preface @TOC = Language and Thought: Some Reflections on Venerable Themes @TOC = Language and Nature @TOC = Writers and Intellectual Responsibility @TOC = Goals and Visions @TOC = Democracy and Markets in the New World Order @TOC = The Middle East Settlement: Its Sources and Contours @TOC = The Great Powers and Human Rights: The Case of East Timor @TOCLN = East Timor and World Order from C H A P T E R T H R E E Writers and Intellectual Responsibility For much of my life, I've been closely involved with pacifist groups in direct action and resistance, and educational and organizing projects. We've spent days in jail together, and it is a freakish accident that they did not extend to many years, as we realistically expected thirty years ago (an interesting tale, but a different one). That creates bonds of loyalty and friendship, but also brings out some disagreements. So, my Quaker friends and colleagues in disrupting illegitimate authority adopt the slogan: Speak truth to power. I strongly disagree. The audience is entirely wrong, and the effort hardly more than a form of self-indulgence. It is a waste of time and a pointless pursuit to speak truth to Henry Kissinger, or the CEO of General Motors, or others who exercise power in coercive institutions truths that they already know well enough, for the most part. @TOCLN1 = Again, a qualification is in order. Insofar as such people dissociate themselves from their institutional setting and become human beings, moral agents, then they join everyone else. But in their institutional roles, as people who wield power, they are hardly worth addressing, any more than the worst tyrants and criminals, who are also human beings, however terrible their actions. To speak truth to power is not a particularly honorable vocation. One should seek out an audience that matters and furthermore (another important qualification), it should not be seen as an audience, but as a community of common concern in which one hopes to participate constructively. We should not be speaking to, but with. That is second nature to any good teacher, and should be to any writer and intellectual as well. Perhaps this is enough to suggest that even the question of choice of audience is not entirely trivial. @ISBN = 285 pages, bibliography, index @ISBN = Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-048-1 $23.99 @ISBN = Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-049-X $52.99