Assignment 3: Debate Noam Chomsky & Michel Foucault - On Human Nature

“If it were not for these limitations…we would not have the creative act of going from a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of experience, to a rich and archival articulated and complicated array of knowledge,”-Noam Chomsky.

The meaning of this quote is that limitations is a necessary ingredient for creativity in humans.

I chose this quote by Noam Chomsky because it makes one question the origin of human creativity.

Chomsky believes that humans are innately gifted with the ability to create but through the limitation of this ‘instinctive knowledge’ that allows for the progression of science and all other knowledge. He believes that it is this limitation that drives human to a deeper endeavor to understand the universe around them. Also, it is what has a direct influence on the depth and richness of scientific knowledge. He cautions, however, that whatever inductive conclusion that one might arrive at due to scientific or non scientific endeavor should be open to criticism or the understanding that such a conclusion could be wrong or be subjected to rejection. Especially, in the event of empirical evidence that proves otherwise.

I agree with Chomsky that inventiveness has a direct corresponding trigger that exists in the mind of the inventor. For an inventor or scientific theorist to create a certain body of thought, there has to be an initial interest that drove that individual to explore to a fuller context the origin and understanding of such thought process. In essence, I believe that it is the innate ability for humans to question their existence which has a direct correlation to the richness of scientific and non-scientific knowledge.

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