Clear and Present Danger - A history of free speech

In his famous essay “What is Enlightenment?” the Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant declared “enlightenment requires nothing but freedom…to make public use of one's reason in all matters. Now I hear the cry from all sides: "Do not argue!" … Only one ruler in the world says: "Argue as much as you please, but obey!". That ruler was Frederick the Great.

In this episode, we cover the ground zero of Enlightened Despotism: Russia. A country whose Tsar Peter the Great, according to Voltaire, single-handedly dragged across both time and place from the Dark Ages and Asia into the 18th century and Europe. Even absolute monarchs dreamt of Enlightenment Now. But how do you combine absolute rule with enlightenment without undermining the traditions and ideas that legitimate absolute rule in the first place?

After a brief detour into the present, we return to Ground Zero of the Enlightenment in 18th century Europe, with this recap of past episodes and a brief overview of the themes and countries to be explored in the upcoming episodes as rationality and secularization sweep the continent turning tradition and authority upside down.

June 4th, 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the bloody culmination of the Chinese government´s Tiananmen Massacre of pro-democracy students and activists. But all public discussion and memories of the massacre have been erased within China itself. In this episode, we will take a trip behind the Great Firewall into modern day China where the most ambitious and sophisticated attempt to control the flow and content of information in the history of mankind is taking place.

Today´s episode is going to be a radical departure from the chronological timeline of the general podcast so far. I´m currently in Oslo for the annual Oslo Freedom Forum. To take advantage of the event I have decided to do a number of Expert Opinions on current cutting-edge topics related to free speech. The first episode will look at why the so-called “Democratic Recession” is mirrored by a “Free Speech Recession,” with Stanford Professor Larry Diamond.

On 14 July 1798 President John Adams signed the Sedition Act into law which made it a crime to "write, print, utter, or publish... any false, scandalous and malicious writing against the government of the United States." In part 2 of this conversation with professor Stephen Solomon, we will explore how Americans who had championed freedom of speech as the “Great bulwark of liberty” and thumped their noses at English sedition laws in the lead up to the Revolution, came to adopt their own sedition law

The First Amendment of the US Constitution was adopted as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791. In this conversation with professor Stephen Solomon we will explore the origins and drafting history of the First Amendment.

In the second half of the 18th Century American, Patriots showed that freedom of the press was a potent weapon against authority. Not even the world´s most formidable empire could stop them from speaking truth, lies and insults to power.

We’ll explore: - How coffee-houses expanded the public sphere by cultivating the sharing of news and ideas - How English writers including Matthew Tindal, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon paved the way for American ideas on free speech - How the editor of the New England Courant in Boston combined anti-vaxxer propaganda with free speech advocacy - How a jury acquitted the printer of the New York Weekly Journal Peter Zenger - How Benjamin Franklin defended legislative privilege

1685 was a watershed year for events that would lead to what we call the Enlightenment. France´s Sun King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and initiated a policy of religious persecution of Protestants. In England, the Catholic James II assumed the throne to the horror of the protestant majority in Parliament. The French philosopher Pierre Bayle wrote his groundbreaking defense of religious tolerance “Commentaire Philosophique” and John Locke wrote his Letter Concerning Toleration.

With me on this episode to explore Baruch Spinoza’s ideas on freedom of thought and expression is philosophy professor and Spinoza expert Steven Nadler. Author of “Spinoza: A Life” and “A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza’s Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age.” In the episode we discuss issues including: - Why Spinoza’s ideas of religion shocked and outraged just about everyone - Why Spinoza thought social peace depends on freedom of thought and expression

Americans are the most supportive of free speech around the world. But in 17th Century colonial America criticizing the government, officials or the laws was punishable as seditious libel and could result in the cropping of ears, whippings, and jail time. Religious speech was also tightly controlled and blasphemy was punishable by death in several colonies. Despite the harsh climate of the 17th century, the boundaries of political speech and religious tolerance were significantly expanded.

In the 16th Century Spain and Portugal globalized the inquisition by spreading the fight for religious orthodoxy and against heresy, blasphemy, and apostasy to the Americas, Africa and Asia allowing inquisitors to pry into the souls of men on five continents.

In this episode, we join up with historian of science Dr. Michael Shermer to investigate the cross-fertilization between science and free speech. Among the topics discussed are: - When did scientific freedom make its decisive breakthrough? - What comes first: Science or free inquiry? - How did both Islam and Christianity affect science? - What is the relationship between science and free speech as such? - How did Benjamin Franklin infuse the Declaration of Independence with Newtonian science?

Episode 15 returns to Europe and formative events in 17th Century England, where a mostly forgotten group of radicals demanded a written constitution guaranteeing free speech, liberty of conscience, and democracy. But who were the Levellers? What was the historical context of their radical demands and why were they ultimately crushed by former allies?