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Single Idea 7213
[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 3. Free speech
]
Full Idea
Liberty, as a principle, has no application to any state of things anterior to the time when mankind have become capable of being improved by free and equal discussion.
Gist of Idea
Liberty arises at the point where people can freely and equally discuss things
Source
John Stuart Mill (On Liberty [1857], Ch.1)
Book Ref
Mill,John Stuart: 'Utilitarianism (including On Liberty etc)', ed/tr. Warnock,Mary [Fontana 1962], p.136
A Reaction
There is a Victorian (and Enlightenment) optimism here which a glimpse of the freedoms of the early twenty-first century might dampen. I doubt if Mill expected British tabloid newspapers, or porn on cable TV. Education and freedom connect.
The
16 ideas
with the same theme
[extent to which opinions can be freely expressed]:
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1766
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Diogenes said that the most excellent thing among men was freedom of speech
[Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
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20481
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Nothing we say can be worse than unsaying it in the face of authority
[Montaigne]
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19942
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Treason may be committed as much by words as by deeds
[Spinoza]
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20009
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Freedom of speech and writing, within the law, is essential to preserve liberty
[Montesquieu]
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2233
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No government has ever suffered by being too tolerant of philosophy
[Hume]
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21058
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Enlightenment requires the free use of reason in the public realm
[Kant]
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19859
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Free speech is very precious, and everyone may speak and write freely (but take responsibility for it)
[Mirabeau/committee]
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21487
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The freedom of the press to sell poison outweighs its usefulness
[Schopenhauer]
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7213
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Liberty arises at the point where people can freely and equally discuss things
[Mill]
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22681
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The liberty of the press is more valuable for what it prevents than what it promotes
[Tocqueville]
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23819
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Deliberate public lying should be punished
[Weil]
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22267
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In the liberal view an insult to my group doesn't hurt me, since I'm defined by choices not groups
[Sandel]
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22268
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If persons define themselves by a group membership, insults to that group are a real harm
[Sandel]
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20586
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Free speech does not include the right to shout 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre
[Tuckness/Wolf]
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22829
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Allowing defamatory speech is against society's interests, by blurring which people are trustworthy
[Charvet]
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23136
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Liberal free speech is actually paid speech
[Gopnik]
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