Hostname: page-component-669899f699-vbsjw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-05T00:24:57.622Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

No-Platforming and Higher-Order Evidence, or Anti-Anti-No-Platforming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2019

NEIL LEVY Open the ORCID record for NEIL LEVY [Opens in a new window]
NEIL LEVY*
Affiliation:
MACQUARIE [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

No-platforming—the refusal to allow those who espouse views seen as inflammatory the opportunity to speak in certain forums—is very controversial. Proponents typically cite the possibility of harms to disadvantaged groups and, sometimes, epistemically paternalistic considerations. Opponents invoke the value of free speech and respect for intellectual autonomy in favor of more open speech, arguing that the harms that might arise from bad speech are best addressed by rebuttal, not silencing. In this article, I argue that there is a powerful consideration in favor of no-platforming some speakers: allowing them a platform generates genuine higher-order evidence in favor of their claims. When that higher-order evidence would be misleading, we may reasonably believe it should not be generated.

Keywords

No-platforminghigher-order evidencepaternalism
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Winter 2019 , pp. 487 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ahlstrom-Vij, Kristoffer. (2013) Epistemic Paternalism: A Defence. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begg, Ian Maynard, Anas, Ann, and Farinacci, Suzanne. (1992) ‘Dissociation of Processes in Belief: Source Recollection, Statement Familiarity, and the Illusion of Truth’. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121, 446–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beinart, Peter. (2017) ‘A Violent Attack on Free Speech at Middlebury’. Atlantic. March 6, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/middlebury-free-speech-violence/518667/.Google Scholar
Blackford, Rusell. (2015) ‘Cologne, Peter Singer, and Disinvitations’. The Conversation. June 17, 2015. https://theconversation.com/cologne-peter-singer-and-disinvitations-43412.Google Scholar
Boykoff, Maxwell T., and Boykoff, Jules M.. (2004) ‘Balance as Bias: Global Warming and the US Prestige Press’. Global Environmental Change, 14, 125–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlton, J. Stuart, Perry-Hill, Rebecca, Huber, Matthew, and Prokopy, Linda S.. (2015) ‘The Climate Consensus Extends Beyond Climate Scientists’. Environmental Research Letters, 10, 094025.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceci, Stephen J., and Williams, Wendy M.. (2018) ‘Who Decides What is Acceptable Speech on Campus? Why Restricting Free Speech Is Not the Answer’. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13, 299–323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christensen, David. (2007) ‘Epistemology of Disagreement: The Good News’. Philosophical Review, 116, 187–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, David. (2010) ‘Higher-Order Evidence’. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 81, 185–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, John, Nuccitelli, Dana, Green, Sarah A., Richardson, Mark, Winkler, Bärbel, Painting, Rob, Way, Robert, et al. (2013) ‘Quantifying the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature’. Environmental Research Letters, 8, 031003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, John, Oreskes, Naomi, Doran, Peter, Anderegg, William R. L., Verheggen, Bart, Maibach, Edward, Stuart Carlton, J., et al. (2016) ‘Consensus on Consensus: A Synthesis of Consensus Estimates on Human-Caused Global Warming’. Environmental Research Letters, 11, 048002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estlund, David. (2018) ‘When Protest and Speech Collide’. In Lackey, Jennifer (ed.), Academic Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 151–69.Google Scholar
Fantl, Jeremy. (2018) The Limitations of the Open Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faye, Sean. (2016) ‘If You Don't Like No-Platforming, Maybe It's You Who's the “Special Snowflake”’. Independent. February 19, 2016. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-you-dont-like-no-platforming-maybe-its-you-whos-the-special-snowflake-a6884026.html.Google Scholar
FIRE (n.d.) ‘Greg Lukianoff.’ In ‘Our People’. https://www.thefire.org/about-us/staff/Google Scholar
Grandia, Kevin. (2017) ‘The 30,000 Global Warming Petition Is Easily-Debunked Propaganda’. HuffPost. December 6, 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-grandia/the-30000-global-warming_b_243092.html.Google Scholar
Hahn, Ulrike, Harris, Adam J. L., and Corner, Adam. (2016) ‘Public Reception of Climate Science: Coherence, Reliability, and Independence’. Topics in Cognitive Science, 8, 180–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heinze, Eric. (2018) ‘No-platforming and Safe Spaces: Should Universities Censor More (or Less) Speech than the Law Requires?’ Croatian Political Science Review, 55, 79–108.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Sophie. (2013) ‘Epistemic Akrasia’. Noûs, 48, 718–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huebner, Bryce. (2009) ‘Troubles with Stereotypes for Spinozan Minds’. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 39, 63–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, Rebecca. (2018) ‘Slurs, Interpellation, and Ideology’. Southern Journal of Philosophy, 56, 7–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lackey, Jennifer. (2010) ‘A Justificationist View of Disagreement's Epistemic Significance’. In Haddock, Adrian, Millar, Alan, and Pritchard, Duncan (eds.), Social Epistemology (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 298–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lasonen-Aarnio, Maria. (2014) ‘Higher-Order Evidence and the Limits of Defeat’. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 88, 314–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leef, George. (2014) ‘Brandeis Caves in to the “No Platform for Our Opponents!” Crowd’. Forbes. April 14, 2014. https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef/2014/04/14/brandeis-caves-in-to-the-no-platform-for-our-opponents-crowd/#72e86c951a4b.Google Scholar
Leiserowitz, Anthony, Maibach, Edward, Roser-Renouf, Connie, Feinberg, Geoff, Rosenthal, Seth, and Marlon, Jennifer. (2014) Climate Change in the American Mind: October 2014. New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication-OFF/files/Climate-Change-American-Mind-October-2014.pdf.Google Scholar
Levy, Neil. (2012) ‘Ecological Engineering: Reshaping Our Environments to Achieve Our Goals’. Philosophy and Technology, 25, 589–604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, Neil. (2018) ‘Taking Responsibility for Health in an Epistemically Polluted Environment’. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 39, 123–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewandowsky, Stephan, Ecker, Ulrich K. H., Seifert, Colleen M., Schwarz, Norbert, and Cook, John. (2012) ‘Misinformation and its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing’. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 13, 106–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukianoff, Greg. (2014) Freedom from Speech. Encounter Broadsides 39. New York: Encounter Books.Google Scholar
Lukianoff, Greg, and Haidt, Jonathan. (2015, September) ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’. Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, Eric. (2014) ‘Thinking is Believing’. Inquiry, 57, 55–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandelbaum, Eric, and Quilty-Dunn, Jake. (2015) ‘Believing without Reason, or: Why Liberals Shouldn't Watch Fox News’. Harvard Review of Philosophy, 22, 42–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matheson, Jonathan. (2015) The Epistemic Significance of Disagreement. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. (2003) On Liberty and Other Writings. Edited by Collini, Stefan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moles, Andrés. (2007) ‘Autonomy, Free Speech and Automatic Behavior’. Res Publica, 13, 53–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, Steven. (2015) ‘Germaine Greer Gives University Lecture Despite Campaign to Silence Her’. Guardian. November 18, 2915. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/18/transgender-activists-protest-germaine-greer-lecture-cardiff-university.Google Scholar
New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business. (2019) ‘Jonathan Haidt’. https://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/jonathan-haidt.Google Scholar
O'Keefe, Theresa. (2016) ‘Making Feminist Sense of No-Platforming’. Feminist Review, 113, 85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratkanis, Anthony R., Greenwald, Anthony G., Leippe, Michael R., and Baumgardner, Michael H.. (1988) ‘In Search of Reliable Persuasion Effects: III. The Sleeper Effect is Dead. Long Live the Sleeper Effect’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54, 203–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, Eugenie C. (2009) Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Simpson, Robert Mark, and Srinivasan, Amia, A. (2018) ‘No Platforming’. In Lackey, Jennifer (ed.), Academic Freedom (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 186–209.Google Scholar
Theel, Shauna, Greenberg, Max, and Robbins, Denise. (2013) ‘Media Sowed Doubt in Coverage of UN Climate Report’. Media Matters for Americans. October 10, 2013. http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/10/10/study-media-sowed-doubt-in-coverage-of-un-clima/196387.Google Scholar
Waldron, Jeremy. (2012) The Harm in Hate Speech. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, Kimberlee, Garcia, Stephen M., Schwarz, Norbert, and Miller, Dale T.. (2007) ‘Inferring the Popularity of an Opinion from its Familiarity: A Repetitive Voice Can Sound Like a Chorus’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 821–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar