Speech matters : on lying, morality, and the law

249 Pages·2014·2.404 MB·English

by  Shiffrin, Seana Valentine

SPEECH MATTERS
Carl G. Hempel Lecture Series
S P E E C H M A T T E R S
On Lying, Morality, and the Law
Seana Valentine Shiffrin
P r i n c e to n U n i v e rs i t y P r e s s
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2014 by Seana Valentine Shiffrin
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to
Permissions, Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
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press.princeton.edu
Jacket photograph: Subway Passengers, New York City: Two Women in
Conversation, January 27, 1941, Walker Evans (1903−1975). Film negative,
35mm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walker Evans Archive, 1994
(1994.253.626.1). Image copyright © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA. Image source: Art Resource, NY.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shiffrin, Seana Valentine.
Speech matters : on lying, morality, and the law / Seana Valentine Shiffrin.
pages cm. — (Carl G. Hempel lecture series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-15702-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Truthfulness and falsehood. 2. Freedom of speech. I. Title.
BJ1421.S554 2015
177′.3—dc23 2014036621
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For Vala

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Chapter oNE
Lies and the Murderer Next Door 5
Chapter TWO
Duress and Moral Progress 47
Chapter THREE
A Thinker- Based Approach to Freedom of Speech 79
Chapter FOUR
Lying and Freedom of Speech 116
Chapter FIVE
Accommodation, Equality, and the Liar 157
Chapter SIX
Sincerity and Institutional Values 182
Index 225

Acknowledgments
This book explores a variety of issues about the importance of sincerity
and freedom of speech, in morality and in the law. It began as two lec-
tures offered in honor of two inspiring women: “Lying and the Murderer
Next Door,” given in honor of Mala Kamm at New York University, and
“Duress and Moral Progress,” given in honor of Barbara Herman at Cor-
nell University. The common themes of those lectures induced me to com-
bine them and then to extend the arguments to the institutional context
of the university for the Hempel Lectures at Princeton.
The Hempel Lectures emphasized philosophical, moral issues sur-
rounding sincerity. In preparing them for publication, I decided to inter-
weave three additional chapters that more directly concern theoretical
legal issues about speech and its regulation. An earlier version of the third
chapter, which advances a thinker- based defense of freedom of speech,
was previously published in Constitutional Commentary (Fall 2011). I
have substantially revised that essay, added new material on children and
the mentally disabled, and incorporated some replies to critics. None of
the other chapters draw on previously published material. I am grateful
to Princeton University for the opportunity to present the Hempel Lec-
tures, to Princeton University Press for publishing them, and to Rob Tem-
pio for his patient encouragement.
I am humbled by the generous institutional, collegial, and familial sup-
port offered to me while working through these ideas. I can only make a
partial attempt at voicing my appreciation. Discussions with Vincent
Blasi, Tyler Burge, and David Kaplan, some quite long ago, encouraged
my interest in these subjects and profoundly influenced the direction of
my thinking. Later conversations with Joseph Almog, Asli Bali, Jennifer
Dworkin, Gillian Lester, Tyler Meade, Michael Schrag, Neesa Levine,