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1 - Introduction

Speech, Privacy, and Dignity in France and the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2021

Ioanna Tourkochoriti
Affiliation:
National University of Ireland, Galway
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Summary

This chapter discusses the importance of freedom of speech in reference to Enlightenment thinkers, among others. It analyzes deontological and consequentialist defenses of this freedom in order to provoke a reflection on its legitimate limits. Then, it presents cases in the United States where reference to human dignity serves to justify a protective conception of freedom of expression and cases in France where reference to the same concept serves e to justify limitations of the same liberty. The argument in this book builds off Hans-Georg Gadamer’s analysis of legal hermeneutics. According to this analysis, anticipations of meaning condition the receptivity of a reader of a text. The ex ante understanding of the role of the government present in jurists in France and the United States affects their understanding of the legitimate limits to freedom of expression. The difference in the approach indicates a difference with regard to the “imaginary institution” of the political phenomenon on each side of the Atlantic.

Type
Chapter
Information
Freedom of Expression
The Revolutionary Roots of American and French Legal Thought
, pp. 1 - 33
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Introduction
  • Ioanna Tourkochoriti, National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Book: Freedom of Expression
  • Online publication: 29 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009042789.001
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  • Introduction
  • Ioanna Tourkochoriti, National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Book: Freedom of Expression
  • Online publication: 29 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009042789.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Ioanna Tourkochoriti, National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Book: Freedom of Expression
  • Online publication: 29 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009042789.001
Available formats
×