The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom

Discussions of the First Amendment often focus on specific freedoms that the text cites, including religion, press, and assembly. But philosopher Tara Smith’s new book usefully reminds us that those particular freedoms—and many more that Smith and the other contributors examine—are united by a crucial principle: intellectual freedom. The book demonstrates that the free mind is indispensable for a free society.—Nadine StrossenTara Smith’s masterful celebration of intellectual freedom is both subtle and forceful. She unhesitatingly carves out a place for herself as a warrior for freedom in the battles that Locke, Jefferson and Madison fought years ago and that require continued support today.—Floyd AbramsThe shared framework for all of these essays is the secular, individualist philosophy of Ayn Rand. Tara Smith is professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, Onkar Ghate is senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, and Gregory Salmieri is senior scholar of philosophy in the Salem Center of the University of Texas at Austin. Situating their analyses within the broader intellectual landscape, these scholars take up the views of such historical figures as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson and John Stuart Mill, while also addressing contemporary clashes over issues ranging from speech on social media, “cancel culture,” and the implications of “religious exemptions” to the crucial difference between speech and action and the very vocabulary in which we discuss these issues, dissecting the exact meanings of “censorship” and “freedom,” among others. Read more