Noam Chomsky: Human Nature and Social Arrangements

March 22, 2015

Chomsky & Krauss: An Origins Project Dialogue (OFFICIAL) - (Part 1/2)

Any Structure of Authority, Domination, Hierarchy Should Be Subject to Challenge

Transcript:
So, if you take a look at, say, the work of Rousseau that I quoted, which is the 'Second Discourse on Inequality,' that's his most libertarian writing. He begins with a pretty strictly Cartesian view of animals as being machines, just reflexive machines, compelled to do what they do by internal and external circumstances, without the creative character of human thought and behavior. He then says, again in roughly Cartesian terms, that what is unique and distinctive about humans is this internal creative capacity. That's what makes humans different from the rest of the natural world.

Then comes a thesis which is not proved, but it, I think, is plausible. Namely, any social arrangements that inhibit or constrain that free creative capacity are fundamentally illegitimate unless they can justify themselves. That means any structure of authority, domination, hierarchy - whether it's in a patriarchal family, or in international affairs, or anything in between - should be subject to challenge. It's not self-justifying.

And I mean, you could see the chain of thinking. Notice, it's not a proof, but beginning with the observation that inherent to human nature, what's special about us, is this creative character. The free need to inquire, to create, to act, to choose what you do, how you speak, how you interact and so on. There's kind of a chain of thinking from that to the conclusion that the social structures which inhibit that are illegitimate unless proved otherwise.

Like, sometimes you can give an argument in favor of authority. So, if I'm walking down the street with, say, my three-year-old granddaughter, and she runs into the street, and I grab her arm and pull her back, I think I can give a justification for that. But the point is that any form of authority and domination requires justification. And usually, you can't justify it, in which case you have to dismantle it and replace it by something more free and just.

Noam Chomsky - Rousseau, Moral Progress, and Illegitimate Authority

"Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains."
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract & Discourses (1755)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Second Discourse: Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Mankind (1755)

Rousseau shows us that there is a way to break the chains – from within (2010)

[wonkmonk]

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