Associate Professor of Philosophy Barrett Emerick coedited (with Professor Shannon Dea, University of Regina) an issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal on the theme of academic freedom and free speech. Emerick also published an article in the issue called “The Limits of the Rights to Free Thought and Expression.”
Emerick’s article rejects the claims that people have a moral right to believe and say whatever they want, such as claiming they have a right to believe racist things as long as they keep those thoughts to themselves or claiming they have a right to pursue any scholarly question they want as long as they do so with a civil tone. Emerick’s paper argues that no one has such unlimited moral rights (though what legal rights they do and should have are different questions). Part 1 of his paper explores the value of the freedoms of thought and expression. Part 2 argues against the unlimited moral right to free expression, focusing in particular on the special obligations and moral constraints that obtain for academics. Part 3 argues against the unlimited moral right to free thought.
The issue and Emerick’s paper can be found here: https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/44688
