Noam Chomsky

**Avram Noam Chomsky** (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. He was an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

## Linguistics

Chomsky created the theory of generative grammar. This is one of the most important contributions to the field of linguistics made in the 20th century. He also helped start the cognitive revolution in psychology through his review of B. F. Skinner's _Verbal Behavior_. He challenged the behaviorist way of looking at behavior and language. This was the main approach used in the 1950s. His natural approach to the study of language also changed the philosophy of language and mind. He also invented the Chomsky hierarchy, a way of looking at formal languages in terms of their power to explain language.

According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980–1992 time period. He was the eighth-most cited scholar in any time period.

## Politics

In the 1960s he criticized the Vietnam War. Because of that, Chomsky became more widely known for his media criticism and politics. He is a key intellectual figure within the left wing of United States politics. Chomsky is widely known for his political activism, and for his criticism of capitalism and the foreign policy of the United States and other governments. Chomsky often calls himself a libertarian socialist and an anarcho-syndicalist, and he has talked and written extensively on these subjects. He is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, following his father William Chomsky who was also a member.

In 2015, Chomsky announced his support for Vermont U.S. senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 United States presidential election.

## Health

Chomsky had a massive stroke in June 2023 and was hospitalized in São Paulo, Brazil. His wife talked about his health issues a year late in June 2024, where he remained hospitalized in Brazil.

## Honors

He was elected a member of the  American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1963, a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1972, a foreign member of the Academia Europaea in 1995, a foreign member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2003 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2004.

He received honorary degrees from the University of Uppsala, the University of Chicago, the University of Delhi, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of London, the Loyola University Chicago, the Swarthmore College, the Bard College, the University of Cambridge, the Columbia University, the Harvard University, the Georgetown University, the Amherst College, the McGill University, the National University of Colombia, the University of Toronto, the University of Calcutta, the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Western University in Ontario and the University of Buenos Aires.

He was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences in 1988.

## Other websites

- Official website
- Why It's Over For America, by Noam Chomsky, _The Independent_, May 30, 2006
- MIT homepage
- Conversation with Noam Chomsky
- NY Times article on Chomsky—September 22, 2006
- Video of Chomsky's talk 'Force, law and the possibilities for survival' in March 2005
- joint Noam Chomsky—Howard Zinn interview, April 16 2007 part one  part two
- On nedia: State of Nature interview with Noam Chomsky (September, 2006)

## Infobox (philosopher)

- **image**: Noam Chomsky 2011-04-07 002 (cropped).jpg
- **region**: Western Philosophy
- **era**: 20th-century philosophy, 20th / 21st-century philosophy
- **color**: #B0C4DE
- **name**: Noam Chomsky
- **image name**: Noam Chomsky portrait 2015.jpg
- **birth name**: Avram Noam Chomsky
- **school tradition**: Linguistics
- **main interests**: Linguistics Psychology
Philosophy of language
Politics Ethics
- **notable ideas**: Generative grammar
- **influences**: Bertrand Russell John Dewey
Mikhail Bakunin Wilhelm von Humboldt, W. von Humboldt
Adam Smith Rudolf Rocker
Zellig Harris Immanuel Kant
René Descartes George Orwell
Karl Marx C. West Churchman
W.V.O. Quine  Alan Turing.
- **influenced**: Colin McGinn Edward Said
Steven Pinker Tanya Reinhart
Daniel Everett Morris Halle
Gilbert Harman Jerry Fodor
Howard LasnikRobert Fisk
 Neil Smith (linguist), Neil SmithRay Jackendoff
Norbert HornsteinJean Bricmont
 Marc HauserNorman Finkelstein
 Robert Lees (linguist), Robert Lees  Mark Baker (linguist), Mark Baker
 Julian BoydBill Hicks
Ray C. DoughertyDerek Bickerton
Thom Yorke