Religion, hate speech, and non-domination

Bonotti, Matteo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8241-4896 2017. Religion, hate speech, and non-domination. Ethnicities 17 (2) , pp. 259-274. 10.1177/1468796817692626

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (380kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this paper I argue that one way of explaining what is wrong with hate speech is by critically assessing what kind of freedom free speech involves and, relatedly, what kind of freedom hate speech undermines. More specifically, I argue that the main arguments for freedom of speech (e.g. from truth, from autonomy, and from democracy) rely on a “positive” conception of freedom intended as autonomy and self-mastery (Berlin, 2006), and can only partially help us to understand what is wrong with hate speech. In order to fully grasp the wrongness of hate speech and to justify hate speech legislation, I claim, we need to rely instead on the republican idea of freedom as “non-domination” (Pettit, 1997, 2012, 2014; Laborde, 2008). I conclude that the hate speech used by religious citizens, even though it is a manifestation of their religious freedom, should be subject to the same restrictions that also apply to other citizens’ speech, because republicans should be concerned with the undominated (i.e. robustly secured) religious freedom of all religious citizens and, more generally, with the undominated freedoms of all citizens, including those who are victims of religious hate speech.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Free speech, Hate speech, Religion, Non-domination, Republicanism
Additional Information:	This article has been accepted for publication and will appear in Ethnicities, published by SAGE Publications Ltd.
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	1468-7968
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	14 December 2016
Date of Acceptance:	23 November 2016
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 10:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/96402

Citation Data

Cited 7 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item