this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
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Philosophy

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Will be forever beholden to his work on language and grammar. Made it bearable to sit through a pointless CompSci class.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (14 children)

I thought his language theories were disproven?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The Chomsky hierarchy is still taught in computer science. That's as much as I know of Chomsky. I don't know anything about his philosophy or natural language contributions

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

I wont forgive him for torturing me with his pointless UG shit.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Such a towering figure in the field of linguistics, politics and philosophy of psychology. Especially his linguistics work was something I found personally extremely engaging as a student. Reading his review of B.F. Skinner's book was a highlight of my philosophy of psychology class.

I know he has been active since the turn of the century but his influence was definitely more of a 20th century phenomenon. Not many academics reach the level of popular awareness that he did.

For you yongsters out there, Chomsky vs Skinner was the original Kendrick Lamar vs Drake.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Contemporary Phenomenologist with radical views about sexual liberation. Basically a latter day Foucault.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Ahh, I love fowcallt.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

The guy from the meme.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Very sad to see our mortality as we watch Chomsky slip away. Let's celebrate his life and his accomplishments - our eventual deterioration and demise is all a part of our grand story of life. He's done amazing things with his time here and we'd all be lucky to have 95 great years like that.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

It doesn’t sound like there’s necessarily been any recent change in his condition—their ultimate source is a month-old Reddit post from his former assistant, who was relaying information she’d heard from his family a month prior to that.

Edit: This AP story has more info: he hasn’t been able to speak since a stroke last year, but he was able to travel to Brazil with his wife via hospital jet and is still following the news from Gaza.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (1 children)

A few months is still recent for people not following his health closely.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

True, but even the info from the family member was just confirming that his condition hadn’t improved since the “medical event” he suffered a full year ago.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I am a professional academic linguist, and make no mistake, whether you are a Chomskyan or a Functionalist, Papa Noam (as we used to call him in grad school) is one of the most important figures in the field for the last 100 years. Perhaps the most important. I wish him well and will be sad when he eventually passes.

That's to say nothing of his political endeavors.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If I may ask, what do you do as a professional academic linguist? Sounds like a interesting and niche field.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (4 children)

The more common definition of "linguist" is effectively "translator", i.e. someone who is a native speaker of language X but can also speak language Y. That's also the military definition.

In terms of the study of linguistics, in academia you can have a great many "linguists" who are not translators but are versed in the science of linguistics and can e.g. do grammatical analysis. It's an entirely different skillset from "translator", and in fact, one doesn't need to speak language Y to do it.

So, mostly I'm differentiating myself from the translator-type linguist and saying I'm the linguistics-type linguist. And because I also do that for a living, I added professional.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You sound like a cunning linguist

Are you also a master debater?

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

You changed my life Mister Chomsky. Thank you

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

We're all lucky he said as much as he did while he could speak.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

Oh hey, I saw something by accident that I can contribute here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWKQIqzotLQ

It's a video response from Chomsky's current collaborators telling off these journalists for announcing a private health matter to the public & making it harder for Chomsky & his family & emphasising that even now into his 90s he is doing cutting-edge much-discussed intellectual work and that is the real news.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

so who do we email now?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Aww man poor guy. I will never forget when he showed up on the Ali G show lol

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