Projects / Programmes
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN HISTORICAL, HUMANISTIC AND SOCIAL HORIZONS
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 7.00.00 |
Interdisciplinary research |
|
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H150 |
Humanities |
Philosophy of special sciences |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.03 |
Humanities |
Philosophy, Ethics and Religion |
freedom of speech, philosophy, society, law, history, media
Researchers (13)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The title of the project contains the syntagm “freedom of speech”, thereby addressing the widest possible range of the problems of the relationship between language and its limitations. In addition to the most sensitive issue concerning the restriction of the individual's or group's right to express their own beliefs, we are also raising the question as to the right to objective and comprehensive information. Since language is a medium through which society and individuals come into contact with one another in all areas of their relationships, the problems include a series of phenomena that cannot be classified in a single scientific field. For this very reason, we have conceived this research as interdisciplinary so as to cover the fields of philosophy, sociology, historiography, media studies, and legal science.
The philosophical part will provide a description, on as broad a base as possible, of the conceptual apparatus which constitutes the framework of our research. It is a question of categories such as freedom, public, language, man as a rational and speaking being, and so forth. We will define the very ontological conditions which allow for the opening of the field of freedom and those human determinants which constitute the assumption of man's ability to be free as well as present the dangers of the contemporary logic of appearance which allows for infringements on freedom as irrelevant or even beneficial to freedom. Within the framework of the sociological part of our research, we will analyze the social contexts and factors which affect the freedom of speech. We will approach the problems also by applying a quantitative survey method, in relation whereof we will also conduct an extensive all-Slovenian public opinion survey based on a representative sample of adult citizens of the Republic of Slovenia. We will devote our attention to potential deviations with regard to regional affiliation, rural – urban environment, gender, age, education, ethnic affiliation, religion, and other demographic and socio-economic variables.
The historiographical part of our research will undertake the study of the essential successes and failures of the great 20th century ideologies (Nazism, Fascism and Communism) in the shaping of expression in Slovenia. Considering the broadness of the topics, our research work will cover those moments that are of the greatest interest for the history of Slovenians in the 20th century in terms of comparability with the situation in Europe. The research will be based on the study of a series of written and oral sources. In the study of the freedom of speech, the part of our research devoted to media studies will examine the shifts which affected speech as an integral part of the media environment. One of the more radical shifts in the history of dissemination of speech is marked by the idea of the freedom of the press which had been initially institutionalized in the early press and subsequently, with the development of capitalism as a mode of production, instrumentalized into the freedom of the press or entrepreneurial freedom of mass media owners. The question as to the impact of ownership of sources allowing for communication on the effective freedom of communication will constitute the central research problem.
The legal part of our research will consider and analyze the protection of the freedom of expression, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of artistic expression in the Slovenian constitutional and legal system and in European and international law. In so doing, we will consider the legal aspects of the freedom of speech and the question as to why is the freedom of expression of key importance primarily on account of its relationship with the functioning of the democratic State. We will schematize the legal solutions that are most appropriate for the protection of the public and open exchange of opinions on the matters of general concern.
Significance for science
The philosophical aspect of the freedom of speech covers the (1) research of the bases of the cultural-historical aspect of the freedom of speech which relates to contemporary anthropology, (2) integration with similar questions in those sciences of life which today surpass the Cartesian distinction between res cogitans and res extensa, and (3) the ever-recurring question as to whether the examination of the freedom of speech is the examination of man. The sociological part of our research is thus devoted to two broader topics in the consideration and analysis of the freedom of speech, namely, to the: 1. analysis of the social contexts and social factors affecting the freedom of speech and 2. evaluation and analysis of the freedom of speech through public opinion. When classifying the attitude towards the freedom of speech, we also take into account the shifts that affected speech as an integral part of the media environment. One of the more radical shifts in the history of dissemination of speech is marked by the idea of the freedom of the press which had been initially institutionalized in the early press and subsequently, with the development of capitalism as a mode of production, instrumentalized into the freedom of the press or entrepreneurial freedom of mass media owners. From the Enlightenment onwards, the indicated change has been strongly related to the principle of publicity and the principle of control over the exercise of public authority or to two theoretical traditions in the study of the public and freedom of communication. The first tradition exhaustively considers the right to publish and links it to the natural right to communicate, thereby emphasizing the emancipatory dimensions which permeate all areas of human life. The second tradition, on the other hand, links the freedom of communication primarily to the freedom of the press which exerts control over the exercise of public authority on behalf of the public. The freedom of expression thus encompasses, on the one hand, the expression of opinions and, on the other, reception and communication of information, notifications, and ideas. ECHR distinguishes between information (fact) communication and ideas and opinions (value judgments). The way for the demands for the exercise of freedom has only been paved gradually and painfully, always in conflict with the authorities and frequently also in conflict with individuals. The freedom of expression has initially formed as a political demand, only gradually acquiring legal form and appearing in a series of legal sources which today are considered the pillars of the human rights law. The objective of history is to search for the answers to one of the most important questions as to the past (and the present) of humanity. The research takes into account three elements of interpretation, namely, the: (A) politics of the major vehicles of ideologies in practice and their perception of reality as a view “from above”, i.e. the politics of the authorities, ideological premises concerning the curtailment of freedom of speech, attempts at the control of expression, and similar; (B) response and adaptation of the “ordinary” people as a view “from below”, i.e. forms of subordination (opportunism in the light of survival) and also forms of insubordination and dissidence; (C) reception of limitation of freedom of speech abroad as a view “from the outside”, i.e. the understanding of the situation by foreign observers
Significance for the country
As regards the indirect impact of the project for society, we should highlight, in the first instance, the productive circumstances, namely, Slovenia’s double experience with the freedom of speech. On the one hand, Slovenia felt the repressive instruments which limited the freedom of speech, while, on the other hand, it formed in the past part of a country which met with the Enlightenment and the idea of the freedom of the mind. For this very reason, it occupies a very special place on an international scale, considering that on account of its double experience, it can formulate concepts that help understand the repressive mechanisms and find ways to remedy their consequences. The key relevance of the project is mirrored in its impact on contemporary Slovenian and European society which understands its identity through the culture of human rights. The task of the affirmation of human rights today is not the struggle for their acceptance in principle, but the clearing of the ways whereby they enter into practice. Relevant in this context is the finding that these ways differ with respect to individual rights, for which reason the problems of the implementation of human rights require a series of separate approaches which take into account the respective specificities of individual areas. The aim of the project was to research the dangers of the transition from the abstract principle of political morality to its impacts on the existential quality of a concrete individual in the case of the right to free expression. Important is to improving the sensibility to the mechanisms of encroachment upon the freedom of speech which is, at the same time, encroachment upon the freedom of the mind. and to identifying their dynamics and at equipping thought to be able to recognize new forms of encroachment.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2010,
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2010,
2011,
2012,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
