What does brain science have to do with free speech? (with Greg Lukianoff)

Most people claim to be in favor of free speech, but they often mean speech from their own side (and not whatever those crazy people on the other side want to say). But from the point of view of the brain, why does free speech need to be rigorously defended? What does this have to do with internal models, printing presses, college campuses, John Stuart Mill, online indecency, cultures of honor, Robinson Crusoe, cancel culture, the importance of literature, and why free speech makes everyone safer?

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More Information:

Sunstein CR. Sunstein on the internet and political polarization. University of Chicago Law School. 2007 Dec.

Moscovici S, Zavalloni M. The group as a polarizer of attitudes. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1969 Jun;12(2):125.

Myers DG, Bishop GD. Discussion effects on racial attitudes. Science. 1970 Aug 21;169(3947):778-9.

Myers DG, Lamm H. The polarizing effect of group discussion: The discovery that discussion tends to enhance the average prediscussion tendency has stimulated new insights about the nature of group influence. American Scientist. 1975 May 1;63(3):297-303.

Hogg MA, Turner JC, Davidson B. Polarized norms and social frames of reference: A test of the self-categorization theory of group polarization. Basic and Applied Social Psychology. 1990 Mar 1;11(1):77-100.

Isenberg DJ. Group polarization: A critical review and meta-analysis. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1986 Jun;50(6):1141.

Spiral of Silence Theory

Matthes J, Knoll J, Von Sikorski C. The “spiral of silence” revisited: A meta-analysis on the relationship between perceptions of opinion support and political opinion expression. Communication Research. 2018 Feb;45(1):3-3.

Nickerson RS. Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of general psychology. 1998 Jun;2(2):175-220.

Kahan DM, Peters E, Wittlin M, Slovic P, Ouellette LL, Braman D, Mandel G. The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks. Nature climate change. 2012 Oct;2(10):732-5.

Lukianoff G. War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail. Cambridge: Heresy Press. 2025.

Lukianoff G. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. New York: Penguin. 2018.

Lukianoff G. The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All―But There Is a Solution. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2023.

Lukianoff G. Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate. New York: Encounter. 2012.

Lukianoff G. Freedom from Speech. New York: Encounter. 2014.

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