Jonathan Rauch

Category: Free speech

  • Hate Speech, Minorities, and Moral Learning

    Reason | December 2013 In 1993, Reason published an essay by Jonathan Rauch derived from his book Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought. In it, he defended what he called “liberal science”-liberal societies’ open-ended, decentralized system for developing knowledge by subjecting ideas, and often their proponents, to public criticism-from then-newfangled attacks by those who sought to protect…

  • The Case for Hate Speech

    The Atlantic | November 2013 ENDER’S GAME comes out November 1. If you live in a cave, you may not be aware that this likely blockbuster is based on a classic 1985 sci-fi novel by Orson Scott Card. The movie version features Harrison Ford, copious digital effects, and a boycott. Recently, a group of gay activists launched a…

  • In Defense of Prejudice: Why Incendiary Speech Must Be Protected

    Harper’s Magazine, May 1995 THE WAR on prejudice is now, in all likelihood, the most uncontroversial social movement in America. Opposition to “hate speech,” formerly identified with the liberal left, has become a bipartisan piety. In the past year, groups and factions that agree on nothing else have agreed that the public expression of any…