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> ] -------------------------------- Article-ID: 05_1997&2746630 Score: 82 Subject: Re: Chomsky on language