CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Kayas, Can |
|---|---|
| Title | From More Speech To Enhanced Counterspeech: Towards a State Oriented Solution |
| Summary | The phrase that the best answer to bad speech is good speech has been around for quite a while in popular rhetoric against hate speech restrictions. On the rare occasions where speech is permissibly restricted, such as the instances of defamation, the questions about how the offense should be redressed (and to a lesser extent who should redress it) are important and demand substantive answers. I argue that such due diligence is absent in the traditional philosophical and legal approaches to answering back where the speech is protected, but the speakers are inflicting serious harms on their targets. Not only the relevant questions remain unasked but also the answers are assumed. In the following pages, I will be highlighting philosophical and sociological views that are attentive to the demands and specifics of counterspeech. I will also be unpacking the implications behind and testing the viability of solutions that are assumed to be effective by legal authorities and philosophical commentators. My conclusion is that the empirical grounds for the claim that “more speech” is the best remedy is highly contested while its moral implications are often unacceptable. A new approach to counterspeech must be found if we aim to prevent and redress the harms as well as transform the speakers without resorting to the blunt instrument of censorship. I will be offering Brettschneider’s expressive state theory as a candidate approach and argue that it is compatible –and if not, can be made compatible– with a range of positions on free speech. |
| Supervisor | Moles, Andres |
| Department | Philosophy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/kayas_can.pdf |
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