Governmental Self-Restraint and Individual Self-Respect

Author(s):  
Matthew H. Kramer

This pivotal chapter presents a novel justificatory foundation for the principle of freedom of expression. It elaborates a Stoical ideal of ethical strength as self-restraint, and it contends that a key element of the realization of that ideal by any system of governance lies in the system’s compliance with the principle of freedom of expression. Through arguments based on some of the ideas in Matthew Kramer’s 2017 book Liberalism with Excellence, the chapter then shows how the compliance with that principle by a system of governance crucially affects the levels of self-respect that are warranted for the members of the society over which the system presides. As a consequence, that compliance is essential for the fulfilment of the system’s paramount responsibility to bring about the political and social and economic conditions under which every member of its society can be warranted in feeling a strong sense of self-respect.

Author(s):  
Matthew H. Kramer

Freedom of Expression as Self-Restraint rigorously expounds the principle of freedom of expression, and provides a novel justificatory foundation for it. Under that principle, a system of governance in any society can legitimately prohibit various modes of communication but cannot ever legitimately prohibit them qua modes of communication. As the book argues, such a principle is absolute in that it is exceptionless; it imposes general duties that are binding always and everywhere on every system of governance. In addition to injecting a new level of philosophical sophistication into the debates over these matters, the book supplies a novel justification for the principle of freedom of expression. It ties that principle to an ideal of governmental self-restraint, and it shows how that ideal connects to the paramount moral responsibility of every system of governance: the responsibility to bring about the political and social and economic conditions under which every member of a society can be warranted in harboring an ample sense of self-respect. In short, compliance by a system of governance with the principle of freedom of expression is integral to the fulfillment of that paramount responsibility. Kramer lengthily engages with arguments by feminists in favor of legal restrictions on pornography, and with prominent arguments in favor of banning the advocacy of hateful creeds. While accepting that some types or instances of pornography and hatemongering can properly be proscribed, he maintains that most types and instances of those modes of communication are morally protected by the principle of freedom of expression.


Author(s):  
Matthew H. Kramer

In his 2012 book The Harm in Hate Speech, Jeremy Waldron has argued sustainedly in favor of hate-speech laws like those that have been enacted in most of the European liberal democracies and in Canada and the Antipodes. His main target is the American position on hate speech, for in the USA any laws along the lines of those just mentioned would be violative of the First Amendment to the American Constitution. This chapter maintains that the gist of the American position is not only a corollary of the First Amendment but also a corollary of the moral principle of freedom of expression. Even more strongly, the chapter contends that the hate-speech statutes championed by Waldron are profoundly demeaning for any country wherein they are adopted. The adoption of such statutes both ensures and presupposes that a system of governance has failed to meet its responsibility to bring about the political and social and economic conditions under which every member of a society can be warranted in harboring an ample sense of self-respect.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-351
Author(s):  
Omar Velasco Herrera

Durante la primera mitad del siglo xix, las necesidades presupuestales del erario mexicano obligaron al gobierno a recurrir al endeudamiento y al arrendamiento de algunas de las casas de moneda más importantes del país. Este artículo examina las condiciones políticas y económicas que hicieron posible el relevo del capital británico por el estadounidense—en estricto sentido, californiano—como arrendatario de la Casa de Moneda de México en 1857. Asimismo, explora el desarrollo empresarial de Juan Temple para explicar la coyuntura política que hizo posible su llegada, y la de sus descendientes, a la administración de la ceca de la capital mexicana. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the budgetary needs of the Mexican treasury forced the government to resort to borrowing and leasing some of the most important mints in the country. This article examines the political and economic conditions that allowed for the replacement of British capital by United States capital—specifically, Californian—as the lessee of the Mexican National Mint in 1857. It also explores the development of Juan Temple’s entrepreneurship to explain the political circumstances that facilitated his admission, and that of his descendants, into the administration of the National Mint in Mexico City.


1973 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 432-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Maravall

THIS ARTICLE ATTEMPTS TO DISCUSS A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS RELATED to the development of a working-class movement of dissent under non-democratic conditions. In this discussion particular attention will be given to the consequences of economic development. It is not that economic development will be considered as a cross-culturally invariant factor in the explanation of social and political conflict and dissent, but that given i) a non-democratic political context and ii) social and economic conditions allowing for working-class movements whose open manifestation is hence restricted by the political set of constraints, the effects of economic development upon such contradictory conditions, and the way they influence the pattern of development of the working-class movement will be especially considered.


2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus C.W. Van Rooyen

The issue that this article dealt with is whether, in South African law, speech that infringes upon the religious feelings of an individual is protected by the dignity clause in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The Constitution, as well as the Broadcasting Code, prohibits language that advocates hatred, inter alia, based on religion and that constitutes incitement to cause harm. Dignity, which is a central Constitutional right, relates to the sense of self worth which a person has. A Court has held that religious feelings, national pride and language do not form part of dignity, for purposes of protection in law. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission has, similarly, decided that a point of view seriously derogatory of ‘Calvinistic people’ blaming (some of) them as being hypocritical and even acting criminally is not protected by dignity. It would have to be accompanied by the advocacy of hatred as defined previously. The author, however, pointed out that on occasion different facts might found a finding in law that religion is so closely connected to dignity, that it will indeed be regarded as part thereof.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 310-340
Author(s):  
Nimi Wariboko

Abstract How does religion or worldview affect business practices and ethics? This tradition of inquiry goes back, at least, to Max Weber who, in the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, explored the impact of theological suppositions on capitalist economic development. But the connection can also go the other way. So the focus of inquiry can become: How does business ethics or practices affect ethics in a given nation or corporation? This paper inquires into how the political and economic conditions created and sustained by nineteenth-century trading community in the Niger Delta influenced religious practices or ethics of Christian missionaries. This approach to mission study is necessary not only because we want to further understand the work of Christian missions and also to tease out the effect of business ethics on religious ethics, but also because Christian missionaries came to the Niger Delta in the nineteenth century behind foreign merchants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-332
Author(s):  
Ayesha Siddiqua

Purpose of the study: The purpose of the study is to examine the use of cyber hate by the Pakistan’s mainstream political parties. The issue of poll rigging in Pakistan’s General Elections 2013 is examined through discourse analysis of the related tweets. The study also aims at comprehending the extent to which cyber ethics were violated during the digital electoral campaigns. Methodology: Discourse Analysis of the tweets generated from the official Twitter handles of PTI and PMLN leaders was conducted to examine the use of cyber hate by the Pakistan’s mainstream political parties. Violation of cyber ethics was explored through the qualitative interviews of 8 purposively selected social media managers of PMLN, PPP, and PTI. Main Findings: The findings indicated that party leadership/politicians used the elements of cyber hate which included abusive language, provocation, and character assassination against their opponents during the digital electoral campaign in general and regarding the poll rigging issue of Pakistan’s General Elections 2013 in specific. Resultantly the tweets using strong adjectives and metaphors on the political opponents were more frequently re-tweeted and attracted more favorites. Applications of this study: The study can be helpful in various cross-disciplinary areas that focus on the examination of the usage and impact of social media and cyberspace as a medium for hate speech dissemination. The study can significantly contribute to areas related to cyber ethics, digital electoral campaigning, freedom of expression, and political opinion building. Novelty/Originality of this study: The study’s originality lies in its attempt to unfold the foundations of digital electoral campaigning in Pakistan and how cyberhate was used as a pivotal tool for advancing the political narratives in a fragile democratic society.


1955 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Sonya Rudikoff ◽  
Gordon S. Haight
Keyword(s):  

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