The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself.
The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.
In the late 1990s, some of the worst terrorist atrocities in the world were what the Turkish government itself called state terror, namely massive atrocities, 80 percent of the arms coming from the Un...
What are called opinions on the left and on the right in the media represent only a limited spectrum of debate, which reflects the range of needs of private power—but there’s essentially nothing beyon...
Take democracy. According to the common-sense meaning, a society is democratic to the extent that people can participate in a meaningful way in managing their affairs. But the doctrinal meaning of dem...
If you're independent-minded in school, you're probably going to get in trouble very early on. That's not the trait that's being preferred or cultivated.
He wants to focus on what he calls 'cultural issues.' That makes sense, because when you're going to rob people blind you don't want to have them focus their attention on economic issues.
And the spectators must not be allowed to see too much. President Obama has set new standards in safeguarding this principle. He has, in fact, punished more whistle-blowers than all previous president...
For a privileged minority, Western democracy provides the leisure, the facilities, and the training to seek the truth lying hidden behind the veil of distortion and misrepresentation, ideology and cla...
I was never aware of any other option but to question everything.
As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.
Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, let's say fighting world war two, it's an assault on democracy.
The rest of the population ought to be deprived of any form of organization, because organization just causes trouble. People have to be atomized and segregated and alone. They're not supposed to orga...
I sometimes turn on the radio and I find very often that what I'm listening to is a discussion of sports. These are telephone conversations. People call in and have long and intricate discussions, and...
Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune.
Do you train for passing tests or do you train for creative inquiry?
The government of Israel doesn't like the kinds of things I say, which puts them into the same category as every other government in the world.
Resistance is feasible even for those who are not heroes by nature, and it is an obligation, I believe, for those who fear the consequences and detest the reality of the attempt to impose American heg...
What does it mean to be truly educated?I think I can do no better about answering the question of what it means to be truly educated than to go back to some of the classic views on the subject. For ex...
We need not stride resolutely towards catastrophe, merely because those are the marching orders.