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The cover of There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech

There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech

Stanley Fish

Is there any neutral principle above politics in fights over free speech and what to teach, or is every such principle shaped by history and circumstance?

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At a glance

Author
Stanley Fish

Why read it

  • You will question appeals to timeless essentials, seeing them as positions that change with history and circumstance
  • You will stop treating agreement between left and right as proof of common sense, since both can share the same hidden assumptions
  • You will be able to approach arguments about what to teach by asking what might work here and now, not what is eternally right

Who it is for

  • A student arguing about speech codes and campus politics
  • A teacher facing fights over what to teach
  • A reader tired of both sides claiming common sense

Contents

  1. PREFACE
  2. 1 INTRODUCTION: “THAT’S NOT FAIR”
  3. PART I
  4. 2 THE COMMON TOUCH, OR, ONE SIZE FITS ALL
  5. PREFACE TO CHAPTERS 3 THROUGH 7
  6. 3 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
  7. 4 REVERSE RACISM, OR, HOW THE POT GOT TO CALL THE KETTLE BLACK
  8. 5 YOU CAN ONLY FIGHT DISCRIMINATION WITH DISCRIMINATION
  9. 6 BAD COMPANY
  10. 7 SPEAKING IN CODE, OR, HOW TO TURN BIGOTRY AND IGNORANCE INTO MORAL PRINCIPLES
  11. 8 THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS FREE SPEECH, AND IT’S A GOOD THING, TOO
  12. 9 JERRY FALWELL’S MOTHER, OR, WHAT’s THE HARM?
  13. 10 LIBERALISM DOESN’T EXIST
  14. PART II
  15. 11 THE LAW WISHES TO HAVE A FORMAI EXISTENCE
  16. 12 PLAY OF SURFACES: THEORY AND THE LAW
  17. 13 ALMOST PRAGMATISM: THE JURISPRUDENCE OF RICHARD POSNER, RICHARD RORTY, AND RONALD DWORIKIN
  18. 14 BEING INTERDISCIPLINARY IS SO VERY HARD TO DO
  19. 15 THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
  20. 16 MiLTON’S CAREER ANd THE CAREER Of THEORY
  21. 17 MILTON, THOU SHOULDST BE LIVING AT THIS HOUR
  22. 18 THE UNBEARABLE UGLINESS OF VOLVOS
  23. APPENDIX FISH TALES: A CONVERSATION WITH “THE CONTEMPORARY SOPHIST”

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