Skip to main content

Noam Chomsky to give public lecture about the state of western democracy and whether the human experiment is doomed – University of Reading

Show access keys

Noam Chomsky to give public lecture about the state of western democracy and whether the human experiment is doomed

Release Date 20 January 2017

Noam Chomsky speaking in Toronto in 2011 credit: Andrew Rusk, 2011

World-renowned academic Professor Noam Chomsky will be visiting the University of Reading this May to give a lecture about the state of western democracy: Brexit, President Trump, other similar movements across Europe, and whether the “human experiment is doomed”.

Professor Chomsky, who will be awarded the Albert Wolters Distinguished Visiting Professorship, is internationally recognized as one of the most critically engaged public intellectuals alive today. In a career of more than 60 years in academia, Chomsky has influenced the fields of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and politics.

Noted critic of President-elect Trump, who will be inaugurated today (20th Jan), Professor Chomsky will be giving a public lecture, ‘Racing for the Precipice: Is the Human Experiment Doomed?’, following the first 100 days of the 45th US President’s first term.

Professor Jason Rothman, Professor of Literacy and Multilingualism at the University of Reading said:

“It is beyond an honour to host Professor Chomsky here at the University of Reading. His work in linguistics has been the gold standard for nearly 60 years, having completely changed the way in which we understand and investigate language as well as the human mind more generally. 

“Whether or not one agrees with any particular ideas, nobody would deny the influence of Professor Chomsky’s work on literally hundreds of those of scholars throughout the world over the past six decades of his career. Without Professor Chomsky the fields of linguistics, cognitive science, psychology and political science would be very different from what we know them to be today. As far as academics go, he is the closest thing to a bona fide celebrity that we have.”

Public Lecture

In his lecture, Professor Chomsky will discuss recent political movements as well as electoral outcomes such as the US presidential elections and Brexit and similar developments across Europe.  He will contextualize them in relation to human behaviour and what seems to him to be their broader – in fact, far broader – significance.

Chomsky will be the latest high-profile speaker at the Albert Wolters Lecture, which has previously seen high profile linguistic academics Professor Steven Pinker and Professor Ellen Bialystok address audiences and be awarded a Distinguished Visiting Professorship recognising their influential role in their field.

Professor Laurie Butler, head of the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, said:

“The Albert Wolters Annual Lecture has seen some of the finest minds in the fields of psychology and linguistics visit the University of Reading to inspire future generations. With Professor Chomsky’s work in psychology and linguistics, it is a natural fit and a great honour to award him with a Distinguished Visiting Professorship from the University of Reading. As a leading university at the forefront of research in areas including psychology, linguistics and neuroscience, we are tremendously excited to be welcoming arguably the world’s best known linguist.”

Due to the expected demand for tickets, you can register you interest in attending the public lecture on May 10th at:
http://www.reading.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/events-noam-chomsky-lecture.aspx

We use Javascript to improve your experience on reading.ac.uk, but it looks like yours is turned off. Everything will still work, but it is even more beautiful with Javascript in action. Find out more about why and how to turn it back on here.
We also use cookies to improve your time on the site, for more information please see our cookie policy.