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Description
We live in an age of ideology, propaganda, and tribalism. Political conformity is enforced from many sides; the insidious social control that John Stuart Mill called “the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling.” Liberal or left-minded people are often more afraid of each other than of their conservative or right wing opponents. Social media and call-out-culture makes it easier to name, shame, ostracize and harass non-conformists, and destroys careers and lives.
How can we oppose this, regaining freedom and our sense of ourselves as individuals? The Tyranny of Opinion identifies the problem, defines its character, and proposes strategies of resistance. Russell Blackford calls for an end to ideological purity policing and for recommitment to the foundational liberal values of individual liberty and spontaneity, free inquiry, diverse opinion, and honest debate.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction and overview
2. Mill on liberty: Morality, paternalism, and harm
3. Freedom of thought and freedom of speech
4. The limits to speaking our minds
5. Conformity and its limits
6. Ideology, propaganda, and outrage
7. You can't say that! Identity politics and the flight from liberalism
8. Cyberspace and its discontents
9. Conclusion: What can you do?
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 18 Oct 2018 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | 9781350056015 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Series | Think Now |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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A masterpiece. This should be required reading for every university professor.
Peter Boghossian, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Portland State University, USA and author of 'A Manual for Creating Atheists'
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As the Right devolves into barbaric know-nothingism and the Left becomes a censorious, perpetual offense machine, Russell Blackford reminds us that our greatest source of political virtue and strength is our liberal heritage. At a time when crucial questions of civil discourse, free-speech, and democracy have become tools in a bloody fight between ideologues and hyper-partisans, Blackford brings to them a careful examination of specific cases and a learned consideration of some of the key texts in classical liberal philosophy. Rigorous, readable, and on the side of the angels, Tyranny of Opinion represents the entry of one of our most thoughtful and talented public intellectuals into what is arguably the central cultural conflict of our day.
Daniel A. Kaufman, Professor of Philosophy, Missouri State University, USA
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