John Dewey and Academic Freedom: From the Freedom of Speech to the Freedom of Communication

• In Event: Deweyan Knowledge-Building Discourses

Abstract

Debates about classroom, college campus, and political free-speech often appeal to or reject the importance of what Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes referred to as “free trade in ideas”. In this philosophical essay, I argue that John Dewey’s (1938) conception of freedom—understood as a process of growth yielding intelligent action—offers a robust way to democratically reconcile the commitments of both free speech absolutists, who resist any limitation on free expression and inquiry, and equity focused critics of the marketplace of ideas, who favor content warnings for sensitive topics in class, safe spaces for marginalized and oppressed groups on campuses, and even de-platforming campus speakers who are perceived as undermining marginalized students’ psychological or physical safety.

Author

• Nicolas Jordan Tanchuk, Independent Scholar