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The essays in this volume consider issues at the intersection of freedom of expression and racial, cultural, and gender diversity. The claims of those whose cultures and beliefs differ from our own are no longer the exclusive province of diplomats, as the Danish newspaper that published cartoons ridiculing Mohammed quickly learned. Negotiating the claims of freedom of expression as they come into open conflict with a wide diversity of viewpoints, both domestically and internationally, has become an increasingly complex task. The present volume seeks both to provide fresh insight into the philosophical grounds for limiting government restriction of expression and to address current tensions between freedom of expression and pluralism. The suppression of ideas by government is no doubt as old as government itself. Ideas help to keep governments in power, and opposing ideas can help them to lose it. As well, through most of the history of the world, the belief that some know b- ter than others what is true, what is right, and what is valuable has been sufficiently widespread to make it seem natural for those betters to dictate for the rest what they should believe. Just as clerics did not hesitate to dictate to their congregations, Christians did not hesitate to impose their beliefs on non-Christians in order to save their souls.
List of contents
Why Free Speech?.- Free Speech and the Social Technologies of Democracy, Scientific Inquiry and the Free Market.- Hate Speech in the Marketplace of Ideas.- The "Marketplace of Ideas:" A Siren Song for Freedom of Speech Theorists.- A Kantian Conception of Free Speech.- Free Speech, Equal Opportunity, and Justice.- Proscribed speech: the limits of free expression.- Is It Immoral to Prohibit Sexually Harassing Speech in the Classroom?.- The Morality of Using "Nigger".- Incitement to Genocide and the Rwanda Media Case.- Hijabs and Headwraps: The Case for Tolerance.- "Conspicuous" Religious Symbols and Laïcité.- Intersections with other rights.- When Free Speech Meets Free Association: The Case of the Boy Scouts.- Oaths and the Pledge of Allegiance: Freedom of Expression and the Right to Be Silent.- Speaking Freely.- Social Institutions, Transgendered Lives, and the Scope of Free Expression.
Summary
The essays in this volume consider issues at the intersection of freedom of expression and racial, cultural, and gender diversity. The claims of those whose cultures and beliefs differ from our own are no longer the exclusive province of diplomats, as the Danish newspaper that published cartoons ridiculing Mohammed quickly learned. Negotiating the claims of freedom of expression as they come into open conflict with a wide diversity of viewpoints, both domestically and internationally, has become an increasingly complex task. The present volume seeks both to provide fresh insight into the philosophical grounds for limiting government restriction of expression and to address current tensions between freedom of expression and pluralism. The suppression of ideas by government is no doubt as old as government itself. Ideas help to keep governments in power, and opposing ideas can help them to lose it. As well, through most of the history of the world, the belief that some know b- ter than others what is true, what is right, and what is valuable has been sufficiently widespread to make it seem natural for those betters to dictate for the rest what they should believe. Just as clerics did not hesitate to dictate to their congregations, Christians did not hesitate to impose their beliefs on non-Christians in order to save their souls.
