In 1971, at a time of enormous political and social change, two of the twentieth century's most influential public intellectuals, Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault, were invited by the Dutch philosopher Fons Elders onto Dutch television to debate the question: is there an 'innate' human nature independent of our experiences and external influences?The resulting dialogue is one of the most original, provocative, and spontaneous exchanges to have occurred between contemporary philosophers, and above all serves as a concise introduction to their basic theories.