Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship
Encyclopedia
Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship is the title of an essay by the US academic Noam Chomsky
. It was first published as part of Chomsky's American Power and the New Mandarins
. Parts of the essay were delivered as a lecture at New York University
in March 1968, as part of Albert Schweitzer
Lecture Series. The first third of the essay, The Menace of Liberal Scholarship by Noam Chomsky in The New York Review of Books, January 2, 1969, was taken "almost verbatim" from this essay.
, the liberal intelligentsia
provided self-serving arguments in their discussion and analysis of the war, instead of objectively discussing the topic; that they used ideology to legitimize U.S. commitments to autocratic rule and intervention in Asia. Chomsky argues that there was no end of ideology
, as many scholars opined, but rather that it was an elite ideology that all elites and scholars could agree upon. Chomsky argues that the conservative, moderate, and liberal intelligentsia all had an elite, counter-revolutionary, bias in their writing, but he focuses on the liberal scholars. As an additional example to the Vietnam War, Noam Chomsky looks at liberal scholarship which covered the Spanish Civil War
in which the same lack of objectivity and the same counter-revolutionary subordination can be seen. .
The essay consists of three parts. Part I focuses on the Vietnam war and the increasing role of intellectuals, or specialists, in government and public and foreign policy. Part II focuses on the Spanish Civil War. He contrasts the liberal-communist version of the war with that of other sources including anarchists' and first-hand accounts. Part III is a conclusion.
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
. It was first published as part of Chomsky's American Power and the New Mandarins
American Power and the New Mandarins
American Power and the New Mandarins is a book by the US academic Noam Chomsky, largely written in 1968, published in 1969. It was his first political book and sets out in detail his opposition to the Vietnam War....
. Parts of the essay were delivered as a lecture at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in March 1968, as part of Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...
Lecture Series. The first third of the essay, The Menace of Liberal Scholarship by Noam Chomsky in The New York Review of Books, January 2, 1969, was taken "almost verbatim" from this essay.
Content
In Objectivity and Liberal Scholarship Noam Chomsky argues that, during the Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the liberal intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
provided self-serving arguments in their discussion and analysis of the war, instead of objectively discussing the topic; that they used ideology to legitimize U.S. commitments to autocratic rule and intervention in Asia. Chomsky argues that there was no end of ideology
The End of Ideology
The End of Ideology: On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties is a book by Daniel Bell, first published in 1960, in which he suggests that the older grand humanistic ideologies derived from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are exhausted, and that new more parochial ideologies...
, as many scholars opined, but rather that it was an elite ideology that all elites and scholars could agree upon. Chomsky argues that the conservative, moderate, and liberal intelligentsia all had an elite, counter-revolutionary, bias in their writing, but he focuses on the liberal scholars. As an additional example to the Vietnam War, Noam Chomsky looks at liberal scholarship which covered the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in which the same lack of objectivity and the same counter-revolutionary subordination can be seen. .
The essay consists of three parts. Part I focuses on the Vietnam war and the increasing role of intellectuals, or specialists, in government and public and foreign policy. Part II focuses on the Spanish Civil War. He contrasts the liberal-communist version of the war with that of other sources including anarchists' and first-hand accounts. Part III is a conclusion.