The Limits of the Rights to Free Thought and Expression

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 31 (2):133-152 (2021)
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Abstract

It is often held that people have a moral right to believe and say whatever they want. For instance, one might claim that they have a right to believe racist things as long as they keep those thoughts to themselves. Or, one might claim that they have a right to pursue any philosophical question they want as long as they do so with a civil tone. In this paper I object to those claims and argue that no one has such unlimited moral rights. In Part 1 I explore the value of the freedoms of thought and expression. In Part 2 I argue against the unlimited moral right to free expression, focusing in particular on the special obligations and moral constraints that obtain for academics. In Part 3 I argue against the unlimited moral right to free thought.

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Barrett Emerick
St. Mary's College of Maryland

Citations of this work

A Millian Case for Censoring Vaccine Misinformation.Ben Saunders - 2023 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 20 (1):115-124.
Only Human (In the Age of Social Media).Barrett Emerick & Shannon Dea - 2025 - In Hilkje Charlotte Hänel & Johanna M. Müller (eds.), The Routledge handbook of non-ideal theory. New York, NY: Routledge.

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References found in this work

The Problem of Punishment.David Boonin - 2008 - Cambridge University Press.
A theory of freedom of expression.Thomas Scanlon - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (2):204-226.
The autonomy defense of free speech.Susan Brison - 1998 - Ethics 108 (2):312-339.

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