Protecting Speech, Seeking Truth, and Cultivating Intellectual Fairness in American Higher Education

• In Event: Aims and Ethics in Education

Abstract

This paper explores recent controversies surrounding free speech in college contexts. We argue for the importance of intellectual fairness for our collective intellectual and democratic aims. We pursue three aims. First, we contribute to work on the aims of education and in particular the role of intellectual virtues as key educational aims. Second, we apply the concept of intellectual fairness to analysis of two recent cases of conflict at higher education institutions—illuminating the intellectual and social value of intellectual fairness and highlighting the relevance of philosophical inquiry to our collective understanding of these highly charged events. Finally, we aim to identify strategies for US colleges and universities to advance intellectual fairness even in the current increasingly polarized context.

Authors

• Rebecca M Taylor, Emory University

• Ashley Floyd Kuntz, The University of Alabama at Birmigham