newsstand and listen to all the conversations going on around him.
As an adolescent, Chomsky espied the development of Fascism in.
Europe and the anti-Semetic succor of some people in the streets at.
home. In spite of the fact that he was anti-Nazi, Noam has said that he.
was dismayed over the treatment the German prisoners of war received in.
the camp next to his high school. This, coupled with other perceptions.
have provoked him into a skeptical stance over the general patriotic.
rendering of World War Two.
Noam continued his schooling at the University of Pennsylvania.
where he studied linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. In 1955, he.
received his Ph. D. from the University of Pennsylvania, though most of.
the studies that generated a majority of the paper which lead to the.
degree, was done at Harvard University between 1951 and 1955. .
As a pupil, Noam was notably influenced by Zellig Harris, the.
Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. During this.
time (1945-50), he proofread Harris's Methods in Structural Linguistics.
and in a sense had attained an augmented sympathy for Harris's thoughts.
on politics. And it was Chomsky's understanding of Harris's political.
opinions that directed him toward taking effort as a graduate student in.
the field of linguistics. (MSU E-Museum).
He was also a student of Nelson Goodman, a radical-empiricist.
philosopher at the University of Pennsylvania. He recommended Noam for.
the Society of Fellows at Harvard and in 1951 he accepted the nomination.
by Goodman and was admitted. This gave Noam a chance to solely.
concentrate on study and research without having to work on the side. .
(Peck 8).
In 1953, Chomsky traveled to Europe and in transitu he determined.
that his endeavor to "formalize structural linguistics would not work.
because language was a highly abstract generative phenomenon." (MSU) He.
then decided that his further studies should relate to models of this.