Free speech in America is at a troubling impasse. At one extreme, the champions of free speech embrace the ultra-libertarian view that every limit on expression, no matter how benign, is a fatal step toward tyranny. At the other, the custodians of public virtue deploy star-chamber methods to enforce an ideology, congealed from political correctness, that grows ever more invasive, intolerant, and inhuman. Can any free nation, especially one as big and diverse as the United States, sustain a tradition of free speech? 

In this online seminar, fellows will situate the classic debate over free speech in both the contemporary landscape and the broader historical context. Fellows will explore the challenge of preserving the Western ideal of free speech in a world where democratic governments seem paralyzed by political and cultural polarization; powerful tech companies have become unwilling content regulators; and authoritarian regimes deploy digital technology for surveillance, censorship, and propaganda.

Image: George Caleb Bingham, Stump Speaking, 1853-54

 

Martha Bayles on Taming the Furies: Free Speech in a Fractured Republic

Faculty

Martha Bayles

Martha Bayles is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, and since 2003 she has taught humanities at Boston College. She is currently at work on a monograph on the threats to independent journalism around the world; and a book about the importance of “voluntary restraint” in the American tradition of free speech.

Preview the Syllabus by Week/Session

Readings:

  • Vincent Blasi, “Milton’s Areopagitica and the Modern First Amendment,” Ralph Gregory Elliot First Amendment Lecture, Yale Law School (1995)
  • John Stuart Mill, Ch. 2 (abridged), On Liberty (Project Gutenberg, 1857)

Readings:

  • Frederick Schauer, “Free Speech and the Argument from Democracy,” Nomos, Vol. 25 (American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, 1983), pp. 241–56
  • Sophie Rosenfeld, Ch. 1, “The Problem of Democratic Truth,” Democracy and Truth (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)
  • Werner J. Patzelt, “Populism—and How to Handle It,” eds. Claudia Crawford, et al., Populism as a Common Challenge (Konrad-Adenaeuer-Stiftung e.V., 2018)

Readings:

  • Harry M. Clor, “The Case for Public Morality,” Public Morality and Liberal Society (University of Notre Dame Press, 1996)
  • Tim Alberta, “How the GOP Gave Up on Porn,” Politico, November 11, 2018
  • Tarleton Gillespie, “Content Moderation, AI, and the Question of Scale,” Big Data and Society (2020)
  • Moritz Riesewieck and Hans Block, The Cleaners (2018) (Available for rent on Vimeo)

Readings:

  • Ron Anderson, “The Panopticon is Already Here,” The Atlantic, September 2020
  • Xiao Qiang, “President Xi’s Surveillance State,” Journal of Democracy (National Endowment for Democracy, 2020)
  • Robin Barnwell and Gesbeen Mohammad, China Undercover, PBS, April 7, 2020

Readings:

  • Matthew B. Crawford, “Algorithmic Governance and Political Legitimacy,” American Affairs, Summer 2019
  • Timothy Garton Ash, “Ch. 9: Icebergs,” Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World (Yale University Press, 2016), pp. 348–69
  • Laura DeNardis, The Internet in Everything, Quello Center, Michigan State University, 2019

Other Courses You Might Be Interested In

Understanding Social Justice

Explore how the idea of social justice is transforming U.S. politics.

Living with Artificial Intelligence

Engage in literary, scientific, and ethical study of Artificial Intelligence.

The Words That Made Us

Revisit key constitutional questions through the lens of history and law.

Ideas & Public Policy

Examine the influence of ideas in some of our key policy debates.

Can Free Speech Survive the Internet?

Consider the impact of the Internet on our political discourse and associational life.

Charles Krauthammer: A Life in the Arena

Study the writing and life of one of America's most prominent conservative thinkers.