Radio Open Source - American Socrates: The Life and Mind of Noam Chomsky | June 1 2017
"Last week, we visited Chomsky with an open ended mission in mind: We were looking for a non-standard account of our recent history from a man known for telling the truth. We’d written him that we wanted to hear not what he thinks, but how. He’d written back that hard work and an open mind have a lot to do with it, also, in his words, a “Socratic-style willingness to ask whether conventional doctrines are justified.” source: https://radioopensource.org/american-socrates-life-mind-noam-chomsky/ full transcript: https://medium.com/@RadioOpenSource/american-socrates-the-life-and-mind-of-noam-chomsky-show-transcript-6c67f4e5c34e Extra Credit Assignment from Prof. Barsky: “For brief introductions to the incredibly complex world that Chomsky describes, it might be worth watching a few videos. There is an incredibly important one | https://youtu.be/3LqUA7W9wfg | that was done years ago on the BBC that offers a one hour summary of the basic philosophical tenants that underwrites his thought, and the interviewer is a very brilliant English philosopher. I have had occasion to talk about this interview with Noam and he agreed, and bemoaned that such programs are no longer easily found. The other incredibly important source to understand the generation preceding Noam, is the remarkable film by Joseph Dorman called Arguing the World | https://www.pbs.org/arguing/ | References made in this film to a tiny Jewish Zionist organization that existed from 1928 to 1943, started at Harvard, that set forth some crucial ideas that were to both reflect and guide the work of Chomsky’s teacher, Zellig Harris (I talk about this at length in my book about Harris). The group is called Avukah , and I have been working on a film and book about it for many years. Joseph’s film is a model for what I’m trying to do, and many of the people mentioned herein have direct or indirect influence on Noam’s thinking.”
"Last week, we visited Chomsky with an open ended mission in mind: We were looking for a non-standard account of our recent history from a man known for telling the truth. We’d written him that we wanted to hear not what he thinks, but how. He’d written back that hard work and an open mind have a lot to do with it, also, in his words, a “Socratic-style willingness to ask whether conventional doctrines are justified.” source: https://radioopensource.org/american-socrates-life-mind-noam-chomsky/ full transcript: https://medium.com/@RadioOpenSource/american-socrates-the-life-and-mind-of-noam-chomsky-show-transcript-6c67f4e5c34e Extra Credit Assignment from Prof. Barsky: “For brief introductions to the incredibly complex world that Chomsky describes, it might be worth watching a few videos. There is an incredibly important one | https://youtu.be/3LqUA7W9wfg | that was done years ago on the BBC that offers a one hour summary of the basic philosophical tenants that underwrites his thought, and the interviewer is a very brilliant English philosopher. I have had occasion to talk about this interview with Noam and he agreed, and bemoaned that such programs are no longer easily found. The other incredibly important source to understand the generation preceding Noam, is the remarkable film by Joseph Dorman called Arguing the World | https://www.pbs.org/arguing/ | References made in this film to a tiny Jewish Zionist organization that existed from 1928 to 1943, started at Harvard, that set forth some crucial ideas that were to both reflect and guide the work of Chomsky’s teacher, Zellig Harris (I talk about this at length in my book about Harris). The group is called Avukah , and I have been working on a film and book about it for many years. Joseph’s film is a model for what I’m trying to do, and many of the people mentioned herein have direct or indirect influence on Noam’s thinking.”