Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, and political commentator. His theory of universal grammar revolutionised linguistics, and his critiques of media and state power have made him one of the most cited public intellectuals of the modern era.

Chomsky's nativist theory of language — that humans are born with an innate language acquisition device — overturned behaviourism and sparked decades of debate in linguistics and cognitive science. His political writings, from Manufacturing Consent onward, apply similar structural analysis to ideology and power.