Chomsky-Foucault Debate: On Human Nature Book

As it turns out the two titans had a televised discussion in Sweden in 1971. That's some pretty esoteric TV. The transcript is an intellectual snack -- like a philosophy pizza bagel -- that looks great on the box but turned out kind of mushy in the microwave.

Both Chomsky and Foucault are illuminating writers: you can jump into one of their books and feel like you're super smart and you're finally getting all the answers. For this reason both have given me fits of adulation at various times. So for me it would be bordering on the sublime to see them duke it out verbally. A perfect after school snack.

But alas, they didn't really delve deep into questions where they disagree (linguistics, the nature of power, the goal of social revolution, etc.) as much as politely touch upon them and move along. I think this because they wouldn't have known where to start a debate, since they come from totally different places. Big C is a "libertarian" writing in the Anglo-American liberal tradition, so he likes to jones about individual freedom and knowledge and creativity in the face of the repressive state. Foucault is a (post)structuralist Frenchman, so he's trying to get away from "the subject" altogether and start thinking about discursive structures instead. For example at one point it becomes clear that while C is striving towards Justice with a big J, F would rather concentrate on teasing out the power relations behind "justice." There's not much overlap there -- or rather, it would take a very nutritious home cooked intellectual history meal to get at it, and who's in the mood for that?