Hobbes against hate speech
This article argues that Thomas Hobbes' analysis of insult or ‘contumely’ prefigures recent developments in moral and political philosophy in striking ways. Specifically, Hobbes's concerns about the dignitary harms in hate speech went well beyond ‘fighting words’ to the essential role play...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor and Francis
2022
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| _version_ | 1826313194419781632 |
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| author | Bejan, T |
| author_facet | Bejan, T |
| author_sort | Bejan, T |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article argues that Thomas Hobbes' analysis of insult or ‘contumely’ prefigures recent developments in moral and political philosophy in striking ways. Specifically, Hobbes's concerns about the dignitary harms in hate speech went well beyond ‘fighting words’ to the essential role played by expressions of hatred and contempt in making and unmaking social hierarchies. Hobbes’s sensitivity to contumely’s subtle power to constitute social in/equalities recalls recent work in feminist and critical race theory. Yet his expansive solutions – both negative and positive, legal and ethical – also shed light on the difficulties faced by aspirationally egalitarian societies in their efforts to eradicate contempt today.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:43:15Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ab2b88f9-aaf8-46b8-a13f-1dbf9e1e2ddd |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:09:18Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ab2b88f9-aaf8-46b8-a13f-1dbf9e1e2ddd2024-06-07T10:51:06ZHobbes against hate speechJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ab2b88f9-aaf8-46b8-a13f-1dbf9e1e2dddEnglishSymplectic ElementsTaylor and Francis2022Bejan, TThis article argues that Thomas Hobbes' analysis of insult or ‘contumely’ prefigures recent developments in moral and political philosophy in striking ways. Specifically, Hobbes's concerns about the dignitary harms in hate speech went well beyond ‘fighting words’ to the essential role played by expressions of hatred and contempt in making and unmaking social hierarchies. Hobbes’s sensitivity to contumely’s subtle power to constitute social in/equalities recalls recent work in feminist and critical race theory. Yet his expansive solutions – both negative and positive, legal and ethical – also shed light on the difficulties faced by aspirationally egalitarian societies in their efforts to eradicate contempt today. |
| spellingShingle | Bejan, T Hobbes against hate speech |
| title | Hobbes against hate speech |
| title_full | Hobbes against hate speech |
| title_fullStr | Hobbes against hate speech |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hobbes against hate speech |
| title_short | Hobbes against hate speech |
| title_sort | hobbes against hate speech |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bejant hobbesagainsthatespeech |