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re: 8.673 Are universities useful institutions?re: 8.673 Are universities useful institutions?



The following amplifies what F. Murphy hinted at in his
review of R. F. Barsky's biography of _Noam Chomsky: A Life
of Dissent_ (1) on the question of whether universities
are useful institutions in his LINGUIST 8.673 post.

First, as pointed out, Humboldt did play an important
role in Chomsky's view of academe.  How much so?  It
would seem Chomsky's vision mirrors that of Humboldt's
writings on academe.

Wilhelm Freiherr von Humboldt (1767-1835) wrote in his
seminal work on higher learning in Berlin (2) that
"the moral culture of a nation is crowned" by its
universities preparing the student to do independent
research.  This requires freedom; and a community of

[107 lines left ... full text available at <url:http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/go?choice=message&table=05_1997&mid=2613601&hilit=CHOMSKY> ]
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Article-ID: 05_1997&2746630
Score: 82
Subject: Re: Chomsky on language