On State Toleration of Hate Speech in Pluralist Democracies
A Critique of Alasdair MacIntyre's Approach
Vol.25,No.1(2024)
MacIntyre’s ‘liberal’ view of the state’s toleration of hate speech may seem surprising given his radical rejection of liberalism. It appears liberal because MacIntyre agrees with some classical liberal conclusions, as formulated by Locke, concerning the requirement of evaluative neutrality of the state. This seems to be the main reason why MacIntyre argues that the hate speech toleration at the governmental level should not be ‘content-based’, i.e. it should be strictly ‘context-based’. The paper argues that MacIntyre’s ‘context-based’ approach seems problematic because it does not take the relevance of different political contexts seriously enough and should be modified towards the ‘regime-based’ model, in which hate speech bans are justified only by the insufficient quality of a given democratic society.
Bartoň, M. (2010): Svoboda projevu: principy, garance, meze, Praha: Leges.
Baroš, J. – Tomaštík, J. (2022): Navzdory své rétorice liberál? K MacIntyrově politice společného dobra, Studia Theologica 24(1), 103–127, available at < https://studiatheologica.eu/pdfs/sth/2022/01/06.pdf >.
Brown, A. (2017): What Is Hate Speech? Part 1: The Myth of Hate, Law and Philosophy, 36, 419–468, available at < https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10982-017-9297-1 >.
Brown, A. – Sinclair, A. (2020): The Politics of Hate Speech Laws, Abington: Routledge, available at < https://www.routledge.com/The-Politics-of-Hate-Speech-Laws/Brown-Sinclair/p/book/9781472439147 >.
Delgado, R. – Stefancic, J. (1999): Must We Defend Nazis?: Hate Speech, Pornography, and the New First Amendment, New York: New York University, available at < https://nyupress.org/9781479857838/must-we-defend-nazis/ >.
Dworkin, R. (2009): Foreword, in Hare, I. – Weinstein, J. (eds.) Extreme Speech and Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, v–ix, available at < https://global.oup.com/academic/product/extreme-speech-and-democracy-9780199601790?cc=sk&lang=en& >.
Dworkin, R. (1977): Taking Rights Seriously, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, available at < https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674867116 >.
Fronza, E. (2018): Memory and Punishment. Historical Denialism, Free Speech and the Limits of Criminal Law, Berlin: Asser Press, available at < https://www.asser.nl/asserpress/books/?rId=12895 >.
Hare, I. – Weinstein, J. (eds.). (2011): Extreme Speech and Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, available at < https://global.oup.com/academic/product/extreme-speech-and-democracy-9780199601790?cc=sk&lang=en&# >.
Heinze, E. (2016): Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship, Oxford: Oxford University Press, available at < https://academic.oup.com/book/7373 >
Heinze, E. (2022): The Most Human Right, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, available at < https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547246/the-most-human-right/ >.
Heinze, E. (2006): Viewpoint Absolutism. Modern Law Review. 69(4), 543–582, available at < https://www.jstor.org/stable/3877226 >.
Herz, M – Molnár, P. (eds.). (2012): The Content and Context of Hate Speech: Rethinking Re-gulation and Responses, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, available at < https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/content-and-context-of-hate-speech/0ED4A911E2138A440BB379BCCC8E2AAB >.
Káčer, M. – Šajmovič, P. (2021): Obmedzovanie nenávistného prejavu v radikalizujúcej sa spo-ločnosti, Praha: Leges, available at < https://www.academia.edu/48968659/Obmedzovanie_slobody_prejavu_v_radikalizuj%C3%BAcej_sa_spolo%C4%8Dnosti >.
Kahn, R. (2017): Hate Speech, Democratic Legitimacy and the Age of Trump, International and Comparative Law Review 17(1), 339-252, available at < https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323083700_Hate_Speech_Democratic_Legitimacy_and_the_Age_of_Trump >.
Kiska, R. (2012-2013): Hate speech: a comparison between the European Court of Human Rights and the United States Supreme Court jurisprudence, Regent University Law Review 25(1), 107-151, available at < https://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/student_life/studentorgs/lawreview/docs/issues/v25n1/04Kiskavol.25.1.pdf >.
Knight, K. (2007): Aristotelian Philosophy. Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre. Cambridge: Polity Press, available at
< https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=aristotelian-philosophy-ethics-and-politics-from-aristotle-to-macintyre--9780745619767 >
Kuna, M. (2020): Eric Heinze o slobode (nenávistného) prejavu v demokratickom štáte. Poli-tické vedy 23(3) 3, 145–162, available at < https://politickevedy.fpvmv.umb.sk/24059/eric-heinze-o-slobode-nenavistneho-prejavu-v-demokratickom-state >.
MacIntyre, A. (1981): After Virtue. A Study in Moral Theory, South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
MacIntyre, A. (2006i) Poetry as Political Philosophy: Notes on Burke and Yeats. In: MacIntyre, A. (2006): Ethics and Politics: Selected Writings, vol. 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 159-171, available at < https://www.cambridge.org/ai/universitypress/subjects/philosophy/philosophy-general-interest/ethics-and-politics-selected-essays-volume-2?format=PB >
MacIntyre, A. (1990) Privatization of the Good, The Review of Politics 52, 344-361, available at < https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-politics/article/abs/privatization-of-good-an-inaugural-lecture/23EBED99A0E06ED05271F528EB552B2C >.
MacIntyre, A. (2006) Toleration and the goods of conflict. In: MacIntyre, A.: (2006): Ethics and Politics: Selected Writings, vol. 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 205-223, available at < https://www.cambridge.org/ai/universitypress/subjects/philosophy/philosophy-general-interest/ethics-and-politics-selected-essays-volume-2?format=PB >.
Steuer, M. (2021) Demokracia a extrémne prejavy – Dilemy dôvery v štát. Ratio Publica 1(2), 34-54, available at < https://www.iurium.cz/media/File/2212/File339.pdf?attachment-filename=Ratio-Publica-2-2021.pdf >.
Steuer, M. (2019) Militant Democracy on the Rise: Consequences of Legal Restrictions on Extreme Speech in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Review of Central and Eastern European Law 44(2)2, 162-201, available at < https://brill.figshare.com/articles/Militant_Democracy_on_the_Rise_Consequences_of_Legal_Restrictions_on_Extreme_Speech_in_the_Czech_Republic_Slovakia_and_Hungary/8262425/files/15448937.pdf >.
Steuer, M. (2017) The (Non)Political Taboo: Why Democracies Ban Holocaust Denial. Socio-lógia 49(6), 673-693, available at < https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/12080924Steuer%20-%20zalomena%20OK1.pdf >.
Waldron, J. (2012) The Harm in Hate Speech, Boston, MA: Harvard University Press, available at < https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674416864 >.
Weber, A. (2009) Manual on Hate Speech, Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, available at < http://icm.sk/subory/Manual_on_hate_speech.pdf >.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2024 Marian Kuna