Chomsky and deconstruction : the politics of unconscious knowledge

This book offers a careful and measured response to Noam Chomsky's criticism against deconstructive theories of language. The author reveals the connections between Chomsky's linguistic theories and politics by demonstrating their shared philosophical basis. "Chomsky makes very harsh assessments of the scholarship of people like Derrida, and Wise does a good job of showing that it is not simply that deconstructionist theorists 'write gibberish, ' but that they hold views that challenge many of Chomsky's basic philosophical assumptions. This book places Chomsky in the history of Western philosophy and shows why the linguists influenced by Chomsky would do well to pay more attention to what is happening in critical theory today, outside the more narrowly defined field of generative theoretical linguistics."--Fallou Ngom, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the African Language Program, Boston University Chomsky and Deconstruction responds to Noam Chomsky's criticisms of prominent theorists by exploring the historical dimensions of the prominant linguist's own philosophy of language. Wise suggests that the Cartesian basis of Chomsky's own thought complicates his claims to have escaped the ancient problems of metaphysics. This book offers a measured response to criticisms of deconstructive and empiricist theorists of language such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Lacan. It also explores the necessary relation between Chomsky's linguistic theories and politic Chomsky and Deconstruction responds to Noam Chomsky's criticisms of deconstructive theorists by exploring the historical dimensions of Chomsky's own philosophy of language. Wise suggests that the Cartesian basis of the linguist's own thought complicates his claims to have escaped the ancient problems of metaphysics. This book offers a measured response to Chomsky's criticisms of deconstructive and empiricist theorists of language like Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Lacan and reveals the shared philosophical basis between linguistic theories and politics Front Matter....Pages i-vii The Politics of Unconscious Knowledge....Pages 1-20 Cerebral Hermeneutics....Pages 21-62 The Ungiven-Given....Pages 63-105 Locke’s “Misreading” of Descartes and Other Fairy Tales....Pages 107-133 Identity Politics and the Pedagogy of Competence....Pages 135-161 Back Matter....Pages 163-196