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paladintodd's review against another edition
2.0
Only made it 10 pages. Lots of quotes I don't understand from people I'm not familiar with. Lots of references to the capital S "State". Where he is going or what he had to say - I have no idea. Didn't feel reading more would make it any clearer.
"Humboldt's vision of a society in which social fetters are replaced by social bonds and labor is freely undertaken suggests an early Marx" - good example. Not the slightest idea what the sentence is talking about.
If anyone has a better example of why Chomsky is a thing, let me know.
"Humboldt's vision of a society in which social fetters are replaced by social bonds and labor is freely undertaken suggests an early Marx" - good example. Not the slightest idea what the sentence is talking about.
If anyone has a better example of why Chomsky is a thing, let me know.
florismeertens's review
Twee korte essays, twee interviews, en aantekeningen bij een boek over de Spaanse burgeroorlog. Dit boek is een lukrake verzameling van Chomsky's idealistische politieke denkbeelden.
De manier waarop Chomsky pleit voor anarchisme is toegegeven redelijk overtuigend. Anarchisten hebben een redelijk negatief stigma, dat hij weg probeert te poetsen. Waar het vaak wordt gepresenteerd als een reactionaire beweging, die vooral altijd tegen alle bestaande vormen van macht is en op zoek gaat naar chaos, is Chomsky redelijker. Hij stelt enkel dat we altijd kritisch moeten zijn: Machthebbers moeten zich altijd kunnen rechtvaardigen. Hoewel dit helemaal niet vergaand klinkt, zou toepassing in de werkelijkheid toch radicale gevolgen hebben.
De hoop die anarchisten hebben in de mens, wanneer deze niet onderdrukt of gedwongen wordt door instituties, is mooi maar wat mij betreft wat naïef. Het bouwt voor op een beeld van de primitieve, vrije mens zoals Rousseau dat had, en ik zie het zelf niet zo rooskleurig in. Niettemin sta ik toch achter bepaalde toepassingen van het anarchisme. Maar bij de uitspraak "Socialism will be free or it will not be at all", denk ik dat het laatste waarschijnlijker is.
De manier waarop Chomsky pleit voor anarchisme is toegegeven redelijk overtuigend. Anarchisten hebben een redelijk negatief stigma, dat hij weg probeert te poetsen. Waar het vaak wordt gepresenteerd als een reactionaire beweging, die vooral altijd tegen alle bestaande vormen van macht is en op zoek gaat naar chaos, is Chomsky redelijker. Hij stelt enkel dat we altijd kritisch moeten zijn: Machthebbers moeten zich altijd kunnen rechtvaardigen. Hoewel dit helemaal niet vergaand klinkt, zou toepassing in de werkelijkheid toch radicale gevolgen hebben.
De hoop die anarchisten hebben in de mens, wanneer deze niet onderdrukt of gedwongen wordt door instituties, is mooi maar wat mij betreft wat naïef. Het bouwt voor op een beeld van de primitieve, vrije mens zoals Rousseau dat had, en ik zie het zelf niet zo rooskleurig in. Niettemin sta ik toch achter bepaalde toepassingen van het anarchisme. Maar bij de uitspraak "Socialism will be free or it will not be at all", denk ik dat het laatste waarschijnlijker is.
jensbrede's review against another edition
3.0
I've always been very much opposed to being a fan of anybody or being awestruck, but if I were to have a role model, it might as well be Noam Chomsky.
I hope to get around to a more sophisticated review of this particular collection in the future for now I can just say you get what you expect. It's Chomsky, in his calm and analytic manner sharing his thoughts with anyone who cares to listen.
The collection tends to get a bit redundant as some points are reiterated over again but I especially enjoyed the first two pieces and in particular Chomsky's dissection of the Spanish revolution but I can see that many casual readers will be put off by it as it is presented in a general academic manner, using lots of citations and various sources to underline the central claims. When one just cares about Chomsky's view and not the foundation of it this will seem cumbersome.
Nonetheless, Chomsky never fails to drive home that "it’s very natural for intellectuals to try to make simple things look difficult".
One only needs to recall principles such as Occam's Razor or think of Einstein's quest for simplicity in scientific theory - It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience" - to feel reassured that when some hides behind the complexity of a matter, he, at best, hasn't really understood it, or, even worse, is deliberately trying to mislead someone. Keeping these simple truths in mind, will get one a long way indeed, when judging the opinions and necessities expressed by experts and intellectuals in various subject matters.
Chomsky is a living example when it comes to breaking down the seemingly complex, into very simple terms, that are readily understood by anyone who cares to listen.
I hope to get around to a more sophisticated review of this particular collection in the future for now I can just say you get what you expect. It's Chomsky, in his calm and analytic manner sharing his thoughts with anyone who cares to listen.
The collection tends to get a bit redundant as some points are reiterated over again but I especially enjoyed the first two pieces and in particular Chomsky's dissection of the Spanish revolution but I can see that many casual readers will be put off by it as it is presented in a general academic manner, using lots of citations and various sources to underline the central claims. When one just cares about Chomsky's view and not the foundation of it this will seem cumbersome.
Nonetheless, Chomsky never fails to drive home that "it’s very natural for intellectuals to try to make simple things look difficult".
One only needs to recall principles such as Occam's Razor or think of Einstein's quest for simplicity in scientific theory - It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience" - to feel reassured that when some hides behind the complexity of a matter, he, at best, hasn't really understood it, or, even worse, is deliberately trying to mislead someone. Keeping these simple truths in mind, will get one a long way indeed, when judging the opinions and necessities expressed by experts and intellectuals in various subject matters.
Chomsky is a living example when it comes to breaking down the seemingly complex, into very simple terms, that are readily understood by anyone who cares to listen.
undeadcleo's review
4.0
Five star content, four because I think that as a collection it wasn't that well put together.
jpowerj's review
4.0
The chronological ordering makes it a bit weird (especially since the "evolution" of Chomsky's anarchist ideas doesn't seem to be the goal of the book), but once you get past the 100-page first chapter (great historically, not great pedagogically) it's an incredible book.