Noam Chomsky, PhD, member of the Program in Human Rights and Medicine Advisory Board, is an internationally renowned linguist, philosopher, political analyst, and outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy and the mass media. A clue to his distinction and influence is provided by an interesting fact, according to the 1993 Arts and Humanities Citation Index, in the years 1980 through 1992, Noam Chomsky was cited as a source in arts and humanities journals and literature more often than any living scholar. Indeed, during the period studied, only seven writers in all of human history were cited more frequently than Noam Chomsky. (The seven included Shakespeare, Freud, Marx, the Bible, and Plato.) A clue to his modesty is provided by a recent episode. The fact about the frequency with which his writings are cited was mentioned as he was being introduced at a public lecture at the University of Minnesota, sponsored by the Program in Human Rights and Medicine, as he took the microphone, Chomsky said, with a smile, to the audience: "You have to be careful about statistics like the one just mentioned. The statistic doesn't tell you what those writers are saying about me."
Related Links:
Chomsky's Home Page
The Minimalist Program
The Noam Chomsky Archive
Intellectual Trading Cards
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Last modified on Wednesday Jan 25, 2006
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