THE DUTY OF INTELLECTUALISM: Reconciling Chomskyan Activism and Foucauldian Excavation
Humanities
Phil 190F
This paper examines multiple factors of the ethics involved in the development and use of theory by exploring Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault's distinct and potentially complementary approaches to social analysis. The relationship between their ontologies of justice, the roles they see themselves to have as intellectuals, and the implications their approaches have in the analysis of real world social struggles are examined. The Sri Lankan Conflict serves as a case study to demonstrate these implications. Finally role of the user is shown to reconcile these two approaches.
