Understand philosophy of freedom of expression to benefit society

As society basks in the glow of post-election bliss, it seems like a prime time to take a closer look at the First Amendment, which gives all United States citizens five very important rights.

Those rights are freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances, and the right to peaceably assemble. 

All of these rights come down to being able to freely express ourselves. 

To fully grasp what that means, we need to understand the philosophy undergirding freedom of expression.

In the United States, our ability to express ourselves freely through speaking, the written word, religious activities, and so much more would not exist as we know it if we didn’t have the First Amendment.

Other countries aren’t so lucky. 

Sure, there is the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights that says, in Article 19, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

However, that isn’t a law, so countries don’t have to abide by it.

For the United States, the First Amendment, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was crafted to protect civil liberties.

Of course, the First Amendment didn’t invent the idea of free expression. 

Such a notion predates the United States. 

For example, Enlightenment thinker Voltaire died in 1778 after promoting ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of religion during his life. 

If you’re keeping score, that means he died before 1789, when James Madison presented the Bill of Rights to Congress.

Furthermore, ideas of free speech probably emerged in the late 6th or early 5th century BC, according to the 2007 book titled “Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece” by Kurt Raaflaub, Josiah Ober and Robert Wallace.

Still, one of the most influential thinkers in the free expression space was philosopher John Stuart Mill, who was born in 1806 and died in 1873. 

During his life, he contributed greatly to social and political theory, and he wrote “On Liberty” in 1859, which explored the relationship between power and authority as they relate to the need for individuality within a democratic system. 

In “On Liberty,” Mill outlines his arguments for why opinions should be openly shared and when limits might make sense. 

In many ways, that chapter alone influences how we understand free expression today.

Further shaping how free expression is understood are numerous United States Supreme Court opinions concerning First Amendment issues. 

People like Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. have greatly influenced free expression jurisprudence, too.

Mill and Holmes overlap in many ways, but most notably is within the concept of “The Marketplace of Ideas,” which, according to the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, “​​refers to the belief that the test of the truth or acceptance of ideas depends on their competition with one another and not on the opinion of a censor, whether one provided by the government or by some other authority.” 

Mill came up with the idea, and Holmes invoked it in his dissenting opinion of the 1910 Abrams v. United States case.

For this analogy of a “marketplace of ideas” to work, society must be a space for ideas to be traded.

We must be open to opposing viewpoints and actually listen to the opinions of others. 

The political cycle never stops, but during this moment of relative calm following the general election, consider ways to be more open to opposing viewpoints. 

That way, others will be more open to yours.

It’s for the good of society.

Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is a native of Canton, a resident of McPherson County, and a media researcher and educator. He can be contacted with questions or comments via his website at www.toddvogts.com.

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