CMCL-C 339: Freedom of Speech
Class Number: 33380
MW, 2:30 PM-3:45 PM, C2 203
Fulfills CASE A&H Requirement
Carries CASE Intensive Writing Credit
Instructor: Brian Amsden
E-Mail: bamsden@indiana.edu
No American today would care to stand against “freedom of
speech.” As an ideological slogan, it carries as much weight as any other of
those inalienable rights that define the great American experiment. What is
often lost among reflections of our exceptionalism, however, is an appreciation
of the complexity, richness, and contentiousness of this right. Freedom of
speech is a relatively recent idea in western history, and it has taken on a
great variety of meanings in that time. Today the meaning, scope, and priority
of free speech remains hotly contested in the law courts and public generally.
We question the value of angry and occasionally violent protests over health
reform at town hall meetings. We disagree over the extent to which military and
intelligence reports concerning torture should be made available to the public.
We debate the value of campus speech codes that restrict the use of racist,
sexist, and homophobic language. Always we hail “freedom of speech”; rarely do
we agree as to what “freedom of speech” means.
This course aims to engage freedom of speech as a
historical, philosophical, legal, and rhetorical concept. The first part of the
course will examine the historical development of freedom of speech as well as
the philosophical justifications for it. Contemporary disputes over free speech
are influenced greatly by these justifications. A debate will turn out very
differently depending on whether we value freedom of speech as a means to
truth, as a method of individual self expression, as an alternative to
political violence, or whatever. The second part of the course will examine the
legal principles that determine what counts as constitutionally protected
speech and what does not. While it is easy to think of free speech as an
absolute right, the truth of the matter is that it is subject to a number of
exceptions including libel, slander, fighting words, obscenity, indecency etc.
Whether you intend to go on to graduate school, enter the business world, work
for a non-profit, or just participate as a citizen in the public sphere, you
will benefit from an awareness of the limits on constitutionally-protected
journalism, advertising, entertainment media production, campaigning, or
whatever. Finally, the third part of this course will analyze freedom of speech
as a rhetorically mediated discourse. From a rhetorical perspective, the way
that we talk about free speech has a lot to say about the public culture in
which we live. Free speech is not just a legal matter; it is a public
negotiation that aims to distinguish legitimate forms of public discourse from
illegitimate forms.
The main text for the course is Tedford and Herbeck’s Freedom
of Speech in the United States. This will be supplemented by a number of
other readings, available through Oncourse, including John Stuart Mill’s On
Liberty, a number of Supreme Court decisions, and some critical readings
coming from within and outside the legal profession. The primary assignments
for the course include two exams, two position papers, and a team research
project/presentation. Class discussion will be an important component of the
course (and your grade), and you will be expected to read thoroughly and
critically, coming to class prepared with questions about the readings and
reasoned thoughts about their conclusions, assumptions, implications, etc.
