Watch our second talk on freedom of expression, with Piers Benn.
This Tuesday 11 October 2022, 7:30pm at the OSO
Supported by the Royal Institute of Philosophy
Is concern about freedom of expression based on a right-wing fantasy?
In this talk Piers will attempt to do two things. First, he will argue for the importance of free enquiry and free expression within a framework that owes much to J. S. Mill, while considering some genuine difficulties with the ‘Galileo Defence’ of Mill’s conclusions and the often-made claim that much speech is harmful even by Mill’s lights, especially when exercised by the privileged. Second, he will argue against the claim that the limitations on free speech, especially in universities, is a right-wing fantasy. He will concede that boycotts of speakers and angry attacks on opinions are sometimes misrepresented as attacks on freedom of expression but argue that there is nevertheless a fairly serious problem. He proposes a Socratic approach to argument, and the encouragement of opinions diversity in institutions, as part of the solution to this.
Zoom and online
I'm pleased to say that we seem to have found a solution to our Zoom challenges. The main issue with this recording is the lighting, which we'll work on for next time with Andrew Ward.
There is no need to register if you'd like to (attempt to) attend the talks online - they should always be accessible via this link.
You can also view past recordings on our YouTube channel.
