Censoring “Error,” Destroying Free Speech
Protection of even the most radical, pseudoscientific, and irrational ideas is necessary to prevent the distortion of truth
A typical defense of the freedom of speech focuses on the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to the pursuit and acquisition of truth. We need other people to tell us when we are wrong by criticizing our ideas, since the quest for truth is a self-correcting process based on learning from trial and the gradual elimination of error, a process of collective discovery based on the recognition of individual fallibility — something which is impossible when there is no freedom of expression. Intolerance and silencing of unorthodox perspectives often lead to the loss of the opportunity to get rid of incorrect ideas — as great innovators like Galileo Galilei, Giordano Bruno, Ignaz Semmelweis, and a myriad of others demonstrate.
These are just several of the many ways in which free and open intellectual inquiry contributes to the understanding of reality. But what is often ignored is the role of free expression in preventing our definition of truth from shifting in the wrong direction. Protection of the right of even the most radical, pseudoscientific, and irrational ideas to be heard is necessary to prevent the distortion of truth. Since, by…
