There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
Pre-emptive war might fall within the framework of international law.
Interpretation
Pre-emptive war, though potentially legal, raises ethical questions about its justification.
Noam Chomsky's quote highlights the complex nature of pre-emptive war, suggesting that while it may be permitted under international law, it also invites scrutiny regarding moral justification. The concept challenges the notion of lawful conduct in conflict, where the implications of acting first can lead to significant ethical dilemmas about aggression and the potential consequences of such actions.
In practice
During a debate on foreign policy, one might cite this quote to discuss the moral implications of military action.
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.
People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are poor.
It is not difficult to deprive the great majority of independent thought. But the minority who will retain an inclination to criticize must also be silenced....Public criticism or even expressions of doubt must be suppressed because they tend to weaken pubic support....When the doubt or fear expressed concerns not the success of a particular enterprise but of the whole social plan, it must be treated even more as sabotage.
Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality.
The twentieth century was the bankruptcy of the social utopia; the twenty-first will be that of the technological one.
Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.
The society exists for the benefit of its members; not its members for the benefit of the society.
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