Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1996
Abstract
The traditional liberal argument for free speech is now under fire from several directions. Critics from the left, the center, and the right find simplistic the claim that unregulated expression promotes the search for truth, the protection of self-government, the autonomy of individuals, and the control of concentrated power. Even if free speech does serve these values to a considerable degree, there are costs associated with liberty, costs the critics say are not sufficiently recognized in the standard liberal accounts.
As a general matter, but especially regarding the freedom of speech, liberalism is seen as too doctrinaire, too optimistic about human capacities and intentions, too complacent, too inattentive to questions of responsibility and virtue. It is condemned, moreover, as elitist in its regard for intellectual inquiry and disregard for faith, affection, tradition, security, and sense of place. The liberal view of the First Amendment is said to ignore the badly skewed distribution of communicative power, the impact of technology, and the potential severity of nonphysical harms.
Disciplines
First Amendment | Law
Recommended Citation
Vincent A. Blasi,
John Milton's Areopagitica and the Modern First Amendment,
14(4)
Comm. Law.
1
(1996).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4210
Comments
©1996 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.