BookTalk.org

There is a huge amount of information on the internet regarding Noam Chomsky. His work as a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist and political activist has influenced generations and will likely continue far after he's gone.In the spring of 1969 he delivered the John Locke Lectures at Oxford University; in January 1970 he delivered the Bertrand Russell Memorial Lecture at Cambridge University; in 1972, the Nehru Memorial Lecture in New Delhi; in 1977, the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden; in 1988 the Massey Lectures at the University of Toronto titled "Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies". In 1997, The Davie Memorial Lecture on Academic Freedom in Cape Town, among many others.Noam Chomsky has received many honorary degrees from the most prestigious universities around the world, including the following: University of London, University of Chicago, Loyola University of Chicago, Swarthmore College, Delhi University, Bard College, University of Massachusetts, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Amherst College, Cambridge University, University of Buenos Aires, McGill University, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Columbia University, Villanova University, University of Connecticut, University of Maine, Scuola Normale Superiore, University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, Harvard University, Universidad de Chile, University of Calcutta, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Santo Domingo Institute of Technology and the University of Bologna. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. In addition, he is a member of other professional and learned societies in the United States and abroad, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences, the Helmholtz Medal, the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker Award, the Ben Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science, and others. He is twice winner of The Orwell Award, granted by The National Council of Teachers of English for "Distinguished Contributions to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language"He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Department of Social Sciences.In 2007, Chomsky will receive The Uppsala University (Sweden) Honorary Doctor's degree in commemoration of Carolus Linnaeus.Chomsky was voted the leading living public intellectual in The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll conducted by the British magazine Prospect. He reacted, saying "I don't pay a lot of attention to polls" . In a list compiled by the magazine New Statesman in 2006, he was voted seventh in the list of "Heroes of our time".

Here is a link to Noam Chomsky being interviewed by Brian Lamb on CSPAN's Booktalk, from June 2003. It's 3 hours long, but well worth the time. Personable, engaging, encyclopedic, and humorous. A great place to start in making sense of who Chomsky is and why he is worth the effort to read and learn from. Enjoy!

Responsibility and War Guilt:A Culture-Setting IntelligentsiaNoam Chomsky interviewed by Gabriel Matthew Schivone [Conference Interview with Noam Chomsky, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mon. June 25, 2007]Below is an excerpt from a recent interview with Chomsky where he addresses a long-familiar concern of his: the responsibilities of intellectuals. It also contains the classic Chomskian challenge to rise to a basic level of moral universality that holds ourselves accountable to the same moral responsibility that we expect from our enemies: judging others by the same standards with which we judge ourselves.Schivone: What about degrees of responsibility and shared burdens of guilt on an individual level? What can we learn about how one views oneself often in positions of power or authority?Chomsky: You almost never find anyone, whether it's in a weapons plant, or planning agency, or in corporate management, or almost anywhere, who says, 'I'm really a bad guy, and I just want to do things that benefit myself and my friends.' Almost invariably you get noble rhetoric like: 'We're working for the benefit of the people.' The corporate executive who is slaving for the benefit of the workers and community; the friendly banker who just wants to help everybody start their business; the political leader who's trying to bring freedom and justice to the world

Dissident Heart wrote:Here is a to Noam Chomsky being interviewed by Brian Lamb on CSPAN's Booktalk, from June 2003.

The video has been removed! Any other place where I can find it?

Yodha,

Welcome aboard! Sorry for the link snafu, try doing a Google Video Search with Chomsky, CSPAN as the search terms.

It's well worth the effort!

You'll also discover scores of other videos with Chomsky in interview, at lecture, in discussion and debate.