The Role of Free Speech in a Democracy

A Critique of Rawls’s Political Theory

Abstract

In The Basic Liberties and Their Priority (1993), John Rawls attempts to supply a robust political theory that answers the criticisms leveled at his earlier work, A Theory of Justice (1971). Central to Rawls’s arguments is his conception of the person and the implications it has on the two principles of justice made famous in Theory. Yet answering these criticisms leads Rawls to make some questionable arguments regarding the priority of the basic liberties and how they may be made to cohere with one another. In particular, section 10 sees Rawls advocate a near absolute right of free speech by drawing on his theory of the person and attempting to illustrate how the basic liberties may be adjusted at later stages. Thus, this essay will be devoted to critically discussing Rawls’s views on his perceived right of free speech. Particularly, it will be argued that Rawls takes an approach to free speech that is far too narrow and seemingly tailored to his general theory and conclusions. Free speech is not a pure good as Rawls seems to suggest, but rather entails consequences with which any well-governed society must be concerned.