![]() ![]() ![]() This doesn’t seem to work because the three accounts often clash. Perhaps combining the three justifications discussed above will allow for lots of unregulated speech. Once we offer a justification we again have an argument for why speech can be limited. To make this claim we need to show why speech is important (enter justification here). This seems to be an argument that we should oppose PC in the name of free speech itself. Why complain at all? The usual answer is that communication is being muted by PC. PC might, for example, limit the speech of white men but enhance that of minorities I would need more data before reaching a conclusion.īut the complaint itself tells us something about the complex nature of speech. This accusation is difficult to quantify. The usual claim is that PC stifles free speech. The heated debate about “political correctness” (a term I dislike), or PC, demonstrates this nicely. And if the autonomy argument is compelling we will not want to protect speech that undermines this goal. Speech that damages democratic processes will find itself unprotected by the self-government thesis. ![]() If expression is justified because it promotes truth, we have no grounds for defending it when truth is undermined. The important thing to notice about all of them is that the justification offered in favour of speech also allows for some limitations. These are the three heavyweight contenders in the debate about why speech is important. Edwin Baker argue that free expression is justified because it promotes autonomy. Alexander Meiklejohn suggests speech is important because it allows for democratic self-government. John Stuart Mill thought that freedom of thought and discussion (he doesn’t use the term “free speech”) is valuable because it brings us closer to the truth, which in turn promotes utility. It is not enough to say “three cheers for speech!”, because if we don’t know why speech is important we don’t know if it is worth protecting. ![]()
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