steven pinker

This Saturday, Sept. 17, is Constitution Day. It was on this day in 1787 that delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed America’s Constitution. And while the First Amendment was not ratified until 1791, discussions over the role of free speech and expression in a democratic society were alive long before then. Pepperdine University professor and author Gordon Lloyd joins the show this week to explore how the American conception of free speech came to be, from the colonial era to the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Drawing from over 40 years of research, Lloyd discusses examples of free speech and expression during the founding, ranging from 1641, when the Massachusetts Body of Liberties — the earliest known protection of free speech in the colonies — was published; to 1776, when free speech aided the decision to declare independence from Great Britain; to the late 1780s, when federalist and anti-federalist publications sparked, in Lloyd’s words, “the greatest pamphlet war the world has ever seen.” Show notes:   on AmericanFounding.org “” edited by Gordon Lloyd and Margie Lloyd  by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton and edited by George W. Carey and James McClellan “edited by William B. Allen and Gordon Lloyd “” by James Madison and edited by Gordon Lloyd “” by Jacob Mchangama   YouTube:  Twitter:  Facebook:  Instagram:  Email us:

Ep. 170 Free speech and the American Founding

Steven Pinker on Writing In The 21st Century

Steven Pinker - Writing In The 21st Century [6.9.14]

George Mason University Professor Tyler Cowen has spent the better part of the last 40 years on college campuses. That’s why when he wrote in his new book “The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream” that college campuses are “among the segments of American society where the complacent class exercises its strongest influence,” we wanted to learn more.

On today’s episode of So to Speak, we ask professor Cowen why he believes college campuses are complacent and what impact, if any, this has on recent campus debates about freedom of speech.

Joining host Nico Perrino in quizzing professor Cowen about the implications his thesis has for free speech is FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff, who is also curious about some of professor Cowen’s other areas of expertise — economics and food.

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Tyler Cowen on the complacent campus

Fredrik deBoer has been in and around academia his entire life. He’s a fourth generation Ph.D. who has blogged about education issues since 2008. Writing from a socialist perspective, he regularly tackles campus free speech debates.

Last month, deBoer wrote a piece for The Los Angeles Times arguing that recent efforts to shut down conservative speakers on campus have contributed to an environment where 58 percent of Republicans say colleges have a negative effect on the country.

On today’s episode of So to Speak, we ask deBoer how this distrust threatens the future of higher education, and why he believes his colleagues on “the left” contribute to it. We also review common arguments against free speech, and deBoer explains how anti-communist purges targeting his grandfather sparked his early appreciation for academic freedom.

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Fredrik deBoer on the growing distrust of higher ed

Nadine Strossen knows the dangers of Nazism. Her father was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp one day before he was scheduled to be sterilized. If American soldiers arrived a day later, Strossen would never become the first female president of the ACLU. She wouldn’t even be alive.

After Charlottesville, there has been vigorous debate about the so-called limits of free speech. Should white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies enjoy full First Amendment rights? And if so, should civil liberties groups, like the ACLU, defend them?

On today’s episode of So to Speak, Strossen discusses the fallout from Charlottesville and argues forcefully that, yes, even neo-Nazis deserve free speech and assembly rights ― and yes, the ACLU should defend those rights. She believes the best way to preserve a free society is to not compromise the rights guaranteed by a free society. She is authoring a book on this very topic due out next year titled, “HATE: Why we should resist it with free speech, not censorship.”

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“After Charlottesville” w/ former ACLU President Nadine Strossen

Last week, Judge Richard Posner suddenly retired from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after nearly 36 years on the bench. The 1981 President Reagan appointee authored over 3,300 judicial opinions during his tenure and is widely considered one of the most vocal, provocative, and influential appellate court judges of all time.

On today’s episode of So to Speak, we hear Judge Posner’s candid thoughts on the First Amendment as we play for you a conversation he had with Professor Geoffrey Stone on May 16, 2016, at the University of Chicago Law School.

In this wide-ranging and candid dialogue, Judge Posner discusses his views on executive power in wartime, including why he believes President Franklin Roosevelt was justified in interning Japanese-Americans during World War II and why President Abraham Lincoln was right to ignore the Supreme Court’s decision in Ex Parte Merryman. He also addresses Citizens United v. FEC (“terrible”), the Supreme Court in general (“a mediocre institution”), McCullen v. Coakley, the Pentagon Papers, flag burning, and much, much more.

This podcast is presented as part of So to Speak’s exclusive partnership with the First Amendment Salon. The First Amendment Salon is a quarterly gathering of members of the First Amendment community for a 90-minute discussion with leading thinkers concerning a timely topic related to freedom of expression.

VIDEO: youtu.be/bhLJliXX848
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Judge Richard Posner on the First Amendment

Would Isaac Newton succeed on the modern college campus? The genius who discovered the laws of motion, but who also obsessed over alchemy, was introverted and prone to unpredictable mood swings. Scholars believe he may have had autism, which is one of the many neurological conditions that contribute to “neurodiversity” in the world. And according to one new theory, the way modern colleges regulate speech is particularly chilling for neurodivergent people, like Newton, who are estimated to make up at least 20 percent of the population.

On today’s episode of So to Speak, we chat with University of New Mexico Associate Professor Geoffrey Miller. He is the author of two new articles, titled “The neurodiversity case for free speech” and “Mental health ‘disabilities’ as legal superpowers.” In these articles, he argues that overbroad and vague campus speech codes could discriminate against neurodivergent people with diagnosed mental health disabilities.

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“The neurodiversity case for free speech” w/ Geoffrey Miller

The British free speech invasion is here. Our friends from the current affairs magazine spiked have traveled across the pond to host “Unsafe Space,” an all-star free speech tour of American college campuses.

On today’s episode of So to Speak, we catch up with spiked editors Tom Slater and Ella Whelan in New Jersey to chat about the tour, which kicks off next week in Washington, D.C. We also discuss developments overseas, including spiked’s latest free speech rankings of campuses in the United Kingdom and the implications of Brexit for free expression.

Video: https://youtu.be/pnitp0Oa_ts
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The British free speech invasion

The experts are calling it the free speech debate of the next decade: Who makes the rules for what people can say — and see — on the web? And who pays the price when “The Delete Squad” gets it wrong?

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, FIRE’s Alex Morey talks to experts on all sides of the issue, from the Facebook team working to keep the social network uncensored — but also safe — for users, to directors at Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists, and more.

When one entity can unilaterally censor billions of users at the push of a button, what does it mean for the future of the internet? “Is this the day the Internet dies?”

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‘Is this the day the Internet dies?’

Nowhere have the campus free speech debates been as intense as at the University of California, Berkeley — the home of the Free Speech Movement.

Violent protests against one speaker. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in security costs to protect another. Speaking invitations extended and then (maybe?) rescinded. And that’s just this year.

On this episode of So to Speak, we revisit the events surrounding the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement to see if the university’s storied past can teach us anything about today’s debates.

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Berkeley then and now

Harvard University professor and FIRE Advisory Council member Steven Pinker is a rockstar academic. He has written 10 books, many of which are bestsellers, including most recently “The Better Angels of our Nature” and “The Sense of Style.” On this episode of So to Speak, we chat with Professor Pinker about free speech, free inquiry, taboo, dangerous ideas, and, of course, his forthcoming book on the Enlightenment: “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.” Here is the recommended reading list provided by Professor Pinker during the podcast:  Immanuel Kant’s “What is the Enlightenment?” Thomas Nagel’s “The Last Word” Jonathan Glover’s “Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century”  www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: sotospeak@thefire.org Call in a question: 215-315-0100

Harvard professor Steven Pinker

Has the history of how our constitutional rights came to be protected on campus been forgotten?  Professor Randall L. Kennedy believes it has. It’s a history even he wasn’t familiar with until recently. On this episode of So to Speak, Professor Kennedy explains how civil rights activists in the 1950s and 60s secured early victories for free speech, due process, and public assembly on high school and college campuses.  Professor Kennedy teaches courses on contracts, criminal law, and the regulation of race relations at Harvard Law School, and he is the author of “The Forgotten Origins of the Constitution on Campus.” Prior to arriving at Harvard, he was a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall at the United States Supreme Court.  BONUS: Check out and subscribe to the new FIRE-sponsored podcast, Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech.  www.sotospeakpodcast.com  Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/freespeechtalk  Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast  Email us: sotospeak@thefire.org Call in a question: 215-315-0100

Randall Kennedy on ‘The Forgotten Origins of the Constitution on Campus’

The Enlightenment worked, says Steven Pinker.  By promoting reason, science, humanism, progress, and peace, the programs set in motion by the 18th-Century intellectual movement became so successful we’ve lost track of what that success came from.  

Some even discount the success itself, preferring to ignore or deny how much better off humanity keeps becoming, decade after decade, in terms of health, food, money, safety, education, justice, and opportunity.  The temptation is to focus on the daily news, which is often dire, and let it obscure the long term news, which is shockingly good.

This is the 21st Century, not the 18th, with different problems and different tools.  What are Enlightenment values and programs for now?

A psychology professor at Harvard, Steven Pinker is the author of: Enlightenment Now (2018); The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011); The Blank Slate (2002); How the Mind Works (1997); and The Language Instinct (1994).

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