Chomsky and Deconstruction The Politics of Unconscious Knowledge

Chomsky and Deconstruction responds to Noam Chomsky's criticisms of deconstructive theorists by exploring the historical dimensions of Chomsky's own philosophy of language. Wise suggests that the Cartesian basis of Chomsky's own thought complicates his claims to have escaped the ancient problems of metaphysics. This book offers a measured response to Chomsky's criticisms of deconstructive and empiricist theorists of language like Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Lacan. It also explores the necessary relation between Chomsky's linguistic theories and politics by clarifying their shared philosophical basis.

Christopher Wise is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Western Washington University. He is the author of Being Arab: Arabism and the Politics of Recognition; Derrida, Africa, and the Middle East; and The Yambo Ouologuem Reader, among others.