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Single Idea 22681

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 3. Free speech ]

Full Idea

I approve of the liberty of the press from a consideration more of the evils it prevents than of the advantages it ensures.

Gist of Idea

The liberty of the press is more valuable for what it prevents than what it promotes

Source

Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America (abr Renshaw) [1840], 1.10)

Book Ref

Tocqueville,Alexis de: 'Democracy in America (abridged)', ed/tr. Renshaw,Patrick [Wordsworth 1998], p.78

A Reaction

He accepts the freedom of the press as inevitable in a democracy, but he found U.S. newspapers to be nearly as bad then as they are now.

The 16 ideas with the same theme [extent to which opinions can be freely expressed]:

1766 Diogenes said that the most excellent thing among men was freedom of speech [Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
20481 Nothing we say can be worse than unsaying it in the face of authority [Montaigne]
19942 Treason may be committed as much by words as by deeds [Spinoza]
20009 Freedom of speech and writing, within the law, is essential to preserve liberty [Montesquieu]
2233 No government has ever suffered by being too tolerant of philosophy [Hume]
21058 Enlightenment requires the free use of reason in the public realm [Kant]
19859 Free speech is very precious, and everyone may speak and write freely (but take responsibility for it) [Mirabeau/committee]
21487 The freedom of the press to sell poison outweighs its usefulness [Schopenhauer]
7213 Liberty arises at the point where people can freely and equally discuss things [Mill]
22681 The liberty of the press is more valuable for what it prevents than what it promotes [Tocqueville]
23819 Deliberate public lying should be punished [Weil]
22268 If persons define themselves by a group membership, insults to that group are a real harm [Sandel]
22267 In the liberal view an insult to my group doesn't hurt me, since I'm defined by choices not groups [Sandel]
20586 Free speech does not include the right to shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre [Tuckness/Wolf]
22829 Allowing defamatory speech is against society's interests, by blurring which people are trustworthy [Charvet]
23136 Liberal free speech is actually paid speech [Gopnik]