Getting a Hearing: What are the Mills Trying to Show in Chapter 2 of On Liberty?
September 5, 2024
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
BSB Institute for the Humanities - Ground Floor
Calendar
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In partnership with the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for the Humanities, the Political Science Department proudly presents "Getting A Hearing: What are the Mills Trying to Show in Chapter 2 of On Liberty?," a talk by Michael Schefczyk, professor of philosophy at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Abstract: John and Harriet Mill’s “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion” is a foundational liberal text. The chapter, in its defense of virtually unlimited liberty of opinion, has been repeatedly criticized on three overlapping fronts: for seeming to suggest that freedom, equality, and reason shape our discursive relations rather than power differentials; for linking free expression so strongly to truth (rather than, say, weaponized disinformation); and for downplaying or ignoring harms caused by the airing of e.g. racist and sexist beliefs. But a look at the central role in the text played by the technical term “received opinion” shows that the Mills have a contextual and power-critical approach here and throughout On Liberty, one that can productively inform and perhaps even reorient contemporary debates over speech and its silencing.
Date posted
Aug 28, 2024
Date updated
Aug 28, 2024