NOAM CHOMSKY An attack on classical liberalism (THE CORPORATION)

The Corporation is a 2003 Canadian documentary film written by Joel Bakan, and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott. The documentary is critical of the modern-day corporation, considering its legal status as a class of person and evaluating its behaviour towards society and the world at large as a psychiatrist might evaluate an ordinary person

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Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• NOAM
• CHOMSKY
• An
• attack
• on
• classical
• liberalism
• (THE
• CORPORATION)

[FRSFreeState]

I've viewed Noam Chomsky as a Democratic Socialist or a Socialist Libertarian. So as a liberal myself, Its nice to hear him stand up for Classical Liberalism and Individual Freedom. Rather then the State.

[michaelwuzthere]

I wonder if people who say "Chomsky for President!" realise how ironic of a concept that is.

[MrDarcyIsHere]

@qwertypoiu4321 Wrong. Chomsky is an Anarcho-Syndicalist and believes states should be dissolved.

[A86]

@SoberHedgehog - If they're both classical liberals they're obvious similar. Otherwise they wouldn't be of the same ideology. A cursory reading about them reveals they both believed in the "social contract" theory (though Mill's was limited to protection from harm) and both believe that humans form governments, property and division of labor in exchange for the utility it brings to the majority of individuals.

[SoberHedgehog]

@A86 Indeed I can. What I won't find are similarities. Since you obviously can find so many similarities as to assert that these two share an entire ideology, I was hoping that you can spell them out for me.

[A86]

@SoberHedgehog - What exactly are you searching for? Do you want me to give an overview of their views? You can find that on Wikipedia.

[SoberHedgehog]

@A86 Uh huh but that's just providing an answer to "what do Bush and Chomsky have in common" with "they're both Americans". I was looking for a more substantiated answer (you had already written that they were both "left-wing" classical liberals)

[A86]

@SoberHedgehog - They were both "classical liberals". Liberalism is not a single ideology but a family of ideologies with common roots and aims. Liberalism has spawned many other ideologies and has common roots and overlap with other families of ideologies. Both libertarian capitalism and libertarian socialism have a root in classical liberalism.

[SoberHedgehog]

@A86 What did Mill share in common with Rousseau?

[Feddyfreak]

I think he is talking about a particular strand: 'Neoliberalism' (1970's) which supports laissez faire economics, not Classical Liberalism. I am a Modern Liberal or Social Liberal.

[lease2coach1]

Yikes. He doesn't seem to know the history of corporation-as-person in this country.

I consider myself a "classical" liberal, btw...

[wpfairbanks]

The title is kind of misleading. He isn't attacking Classical Liberalism as the phrase suggests, he's saying that corporate personhood is an attack on Classical Liberalism. I've heard him defend Enlightenment principles on various occasions.