I rank free speech very highly, certainly more than just a tool. My reasoning is this:
1. Some things are good in themselves, some for the sake of other things, some both.
2. Thus there must be an ultimate good that is good only in itself
3. “Happiness” seems to be to be that ultimate good.
4. “What is happiness” takes more than a sentence, but my money is that it’s closely related to things that are unique to humans.
5. That rules out much, but “reasoning”, particularly to the degree that we do it, is clearly unique.
6. I therefore identify the ability to reason as a core aspect of the happiness.
7. Given that we are naturally social creatures, it’s a short step to say that communicating our reasoning to others is a necessary consequence of the reasoning itself.
The result is that I see free speech as one of the top goods in a society. One in the neighborhood of the ultimate good and so indispensable in living a complete life.
To enshrine it in law for everyone rather than let individual power dictate who gets de facto FOS is to state that everyone deserves a full human life.
It’s not a mere tool or means to some other minor end.
> 1. Some things are good in themselves, some for the sake of other things, some both.
Some people may agree or disagree with this sentiment, that an action can be inherently right or wrong. Afterall, context makes all the difference.
> 3 “Happiness” seems to be to be that ultimate good.
Unfortunately, we know that this isn't the case. Even is an absolute morality exists (meaning that a thing could inherently right without relying on some other authority), we know that happiness is not it's ideal, because then Utilitarianism would be fundamentally right in all scenarios, and it just isn't.
Furthermore, if we characterise happiness as an absolute goal, then why not just hook your brain directly up to a Seratonin IV for the rest of your life?
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Free Speech is important because just having someone tell you something is true isn't enough. There needs to ALWAYS be an open forum for disagreement, of anything. Even if you think something is right, it shouldn't be free from criticism.
If an idea isn't strong enough to stand in a free speech debate then it isn't worth holding onto.
1. Some things are good in themselves, some for the sake of other things, some both.
2. Thus there must be an ultimate good that is good only in itself
3. “Happiness” seems to be to be that ultimate good.
4. “What is happiness” takes more than a sentence, but my money is that it’s closely related to things that are unique to humans.
5. That rules out much, but “reasoning”, particularly to the degree that we do it, is clearly unique.
6. I therefore identify the ability to reason as a core aspect of the happiness.
7. Given that we are naturally social creatures, it’s a short step to say that communicating our reasoning to others is a necessary consequence of the reasoning itself.
The result is that I see free speech as one of the top goods in a society. One in the neighborhood of the ultimate good and so indispensable in living a complete life.
To enshrine it in law for everyone rather than let individual power dictate who gets de facto FOS is to state that everyone deserves a full human life.
It’s not a mere tool or means to some other minor end.