Free Speech & Hate Speech (PHIL40013)

In 2021, Scotland introduced the new crime of 'stirring up hatred', and the state government of Victoria, Australia was poised to expand its law against vilification (which covered only race & religion) to additional protected categories of persons. Supporters see these measures as vital in tackling social inequality; opponents see them as infringing unacceptably on freedom of speech. In this course, we'll explore a range of issues in ethics and political philosophy concerning speech, connecting up with related issues in epistemology and the philosophy of language.

Specific topics may include: the moral justification for free speech, and permissible limits to free speech; questions about what counts as hate speech; questions about what counts as (merely) harmful speech; legal questions about the regulation of speech and expression (e.g. in vilification and hate crime laws); pornography's silencing and subordination of women; online speech & its restriction (including on social media platforms and in virtual game worlds); gaslighting; testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice; and testimony and deference in intersectional hierarchies.