There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
Human language appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world.
Interpretation
Human language is a distinct capability of humans that does not have a clear counterpart in the animal kingdom.
Noam Chomsky suggests that human language represents a unique trait that sets humans apart from other animals, underscoring the complexity and sophistication of our linguistic abilities. This assertion has profound implications for our understanding of human cognition, communication, and what it means to be human, as it highlights how language shapes our thoughts and interactions in ways that other species do not experience.
In practice
In a debate about the evolution of language, this quote can emphasize the complexity of human speech.
There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
The 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.
If you're teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.
There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.
The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it's hardly a traditional political party anymore.
There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information - the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.
He was an embittered atheist, the sort of atheist who does not so much disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him.
However much we guard against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us.
I think it's relatively easy for people to accept something like telepathy or precognition or teleplasm because their willingness to believe doesn't cost them anything. It doesn't keep them awake nights. But the idea that the evil that men do lives after them is unsettling.
If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea voyages, battles!
A man only has a soul to be won or lost.
Man as Atman is really free; as man he is bound, changed by every physical condition.
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