“States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.”

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Meaning

This reads as a reminder to distinguish institutions from the people inside them. It can be taken to mean that governments and states should be judged through human choices, and that moral responsibility does not disappear into an abstract system. It lands in debates about policy or power, where the speaker points back to accountability rather than treating institutions as if they think or feel on their own.

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Historical Context

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Source

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Original Language & Translation

Originally said in English.

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About Noam Chomsky

American intellectual, philosopher and linguist

Noam Chomsky is an American intellectual, philosopher, linguist, political activist, and social critic. He is widely known for his work in modern linguistics, and is sometimes called the father of that field. He has also played a major role in analytic philosophy and is regarded as one of the founders of cognitive science. Chomsky has held academic posts at the University of Arizona and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is institute professor emeritus. His work spans language, philosophy, politics, and social criticism, and his writing often reflects those wide-ranging interests.

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Books by Noam Chomsky

The fateful triangle

1999

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Failed States

2007

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Power and Terror

2011

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Cartesian linguistics

2003

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Pirates & emperors

2003

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