Philosophy Bites Daily

Spinoza's 'book forged in hell'

Baruch Spinoza's posthumous Theological Political Treatise was only published posthumously and became known as 'a book forged in hell' because of the challenge it presented to religious orthodoxies. Read more...

The Cost of Free Speech

Free speech is OK, but it gets tricky when you think about hate speech and some forms of pornography. What should we do? Read more...

Cyber-Cesspools and Free Speech

Brian Leiter makes a case for reducing the visibility of offensive cyber-cesspools, those websites, blogs, and chatrooms where demeaning and humiliating comments are  posted. But would his solution work? Read more...

Zizek, Wikileaks, and the Joker

The Joker wants to reveal the truth beneath the mask; so does Julian Assange. Does that make him a villain? The philosopher-joker Slavoj Zizek riffs on the parallels between the moral ambiguities of The Dark Knight Batman film and the shameless cynicism of the global order and its reactions to Wikileaks disclosures. Read more...

Free Speech, Incitement, and the First Amendment

We can't and shouldn't use the law to censor irresponsible political speech, but we should express our contempt for violent rhetoric, says Aryeh Neier. Read more...