Freedom of Speech - (Primary Documents in American History) by Harry Bracken (Hardcover)

About the Book

This work provides a philosophical framework within which the free speech clause of the Constitution's First Amendment may be understood. While much has been written on the First Amendment, this work is unique in offering an historically based thesis illuminating a point virtually ignored in the literature--the absolutist quality of the free speech clause and the philosophical dualism (words/deeds) on which it is based. Given the increasingly powerful forces favoring group rights in order to generate laws which would silence offensive speech, this book provides a radical challenge to the frameworks within which many such contemporary arguments are cast. It also reminds putative censors of the very special role free speech plays in any democratic community which aims to be self-governing.

Book Synopsis

This work provides a philosophical framework within which the free speech clause of the Constitution's First Amendment may be understood. While much has been written on the First Amendment, this work is unique in offering an historically based thesis illuminating a point virtually ignored in the literature--the absolutist quality of the free speech clause and the philosophical dualism (words/deeds) on which it is based. Given the increasingly powerful forces favoring group rights in order to generate laws which would silence offensive speech, this book provides a radical challenge to the frameworks within which many such contemporary arguments are cast. It also reminds putative censors of the very special role free speech plays in any democratic community which aims to be self-governing.

Review Quotes

"(Bracken) puts forth an exciting, impressive, sometimes polemical case....Thoughtful people need to consider his presentation before endorsing the various forms of censorship that are constantly being offered by people of good will to cure political and social ills...in the so-called modern democratic world."-Richard H. Popkin Adjunct Professor University of California, Los Angeles

"Harry Bracken's examination of the philosophical foundations of the doctrine of free speech is itself the foundational work in this field, one that illuminates the subject from the 17th century to the present day. It is essential and exciting."-Richard A. Watson Professor of Philosophy Washington University, St. Louis

"Harry Bracken's study of the right of free expression adds valuable historical depth and analytical clarity to our understanding of issues of crucial human significance. It is an important and thought-provoking work."-Noam Chomsky Department of Linguistics and Philosophy Massachusetts Institute of Technology

About the Author

HARRY M. BRACKEN is affiliated with the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He has taught philosophy at the Universities of Iowa, Minnesota, and California (San Diego), and at Arizona State University and McGill University. He is the author of The Early Reception of Berkeley's Immaterialism, Berkeley, and Mind and Language: Essays on Descartes and Chomsky.