There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
In America, the professor talks to the mechanic. They are in the same category.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of dialogue across different fields of expertise and the equal value of knowledge.
Noam Chomsky's quote highlights the significance of interdisciplinary communication and mutual respect between different professions. By indicating that a professor and a mechanic belong to the same category, Chomsky suggests that all forms of knowledge, whether academic or practical, hold equal value in society, thus encouraging the sharing of ideas and experiences among individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel discussion on the value of different professions, this quote can be used to illustrate the importance of diverse perspectives.
More from Noam Chomsky
All quotes βThe '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.
Similar quotes
A teacher is never a giver of truth; he is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself.
Teach them the quiet words of kindness, to live beyond themselves. Urge them toward excellence, drive them toward gentleness, pull them deep into yourself, pull them upward toward manhood, but softly like an angel arranging clouds. Let your spirit move through them softly.
To educate the intelligence is to expand the horizon of its wants and desires.
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
No man can be a compleat Lawyer by universalitie of knowledge without experience in particular cases, nor by bare experience without universalitie of knowledge; he must be both speculative & active, for the science of the laws, I assure you, must joyne hands with experience.
Books, books, books in all their aspects, in form and spirit, their physical selves and what reading releases from their hieroglyphic pages, in their sight and smell, in their touch and feel to the questing hand, and in the intellectual music which they sing to the thoughtful brain and loving heart, books are to me the best of all symbols, the realest of all reality.