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Lehrende: Dr. Amal Sethi
Veranstaltungsart:
Vorlesung
Anzeige im Stundenplan:
Meinungsfreih
Semesterwochenstunden:
2
Credits:
2,0
Unterrichtssprache:
Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl:
- | -
Kommentare/ Inhalte:
Most liberal societies are deeply committed to the principle of free speech. Free speech is vital to democracy and serves many functions. This aspect will be a core focus of this course. However, At the same time, however, there is evidence that some kinds of speech are harmful in ways that are detrimental to important liberal values, such as social equality. Might a genuine commitment to free speech require that we legally permit speech even when it is harmful, and even when doing so is in conflict with our commitment to values like equality? Even if such speech is to be legally permitted, does our commitment to free speech allow us to provide material and institutional support to those who would contest such harmful speech? And finally, and perhaps most importantly, which kinds of speech are harmful in ways that merit a response, either in the form of legal regulation or in some other form? This will be the second core focus of this course. This course will investigate these issues through different lenses and topics, all of which are evident by the topics below - which will be the focus of different weeks. All the aforesaid topics correspond to chapters from two textbooks (both of which will be made available to you in e-format).
1) Péter Molnár, Free Speech and Censorship Around the Globe (2014)
2) Ishani Maitra and Mary Kate McGowan, Speech and Harm (2012)
Topics covered according to week
1) The Role of the Mass Media in the Transition to Democracy and Its Subsequent Consolidation
2) Freedom of Expression and the Internet
3) Freedom of Expression, Media and Journalism under the European Human Rights System
4) Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Law: The Case of Holocaust Denial
5) On ‘Whites Only’ Signs and Racist Hate Speech: Verbal Acts of Racial Discrimination
6) Reactions, Responses, and Resistance to Offensive Public Speech
7) Genocidal Language Games
8) Freedom of Expression and Racist Hate Speech
9) The Danish Cartoons Controversy: Hate Speech Laws and Unintended Consequences
10) A Right to Be Free from Religious Hatred?
11) Free to Hate? Anti-Gypsyism in 21st-Century Europe
If you have any doubts, email me anytime at amal.sethi@uni-hamburg.de If I fail to reply in a sufficiently timely fashion, email me again.
Lernziel:
This course will aim to be a discussional one to encourage you to think deeply about the topics undertaken and prepare students for the Socratic method of teaching undertaken in Anglo-American Law Schools. Readings per week will be, on average, 20 pages. Though it would be beneficial to skim through the readings before a particular class, however that is optional as all the topics will be taught from scratch in the classes.
Literatur:
chapters from the following two textbooks will be used (both of which will be made available to you in e-format).
1) Péter Molnár, Free Speech and Censorship Around the Globe (2014)
2) Ishani Maitra and Mary Kate McGowan, Speech and Harm (2012)
1) The Role of the Mass Media in the Transition to Democracy and Its Subsequent Consolidation
2) Freedom of Expression and the Internet
3) Freedom of Expression, Media and Journalism under the European Human Rights System
4) Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Law: The Case of Holocaust Denial
5) On ‘Whites Only’ Signs and Racist Hate Speech: Verbal Acts of Racial Discrimination
6) Reactions, Responses, and Resistance to Offensive Public Speech
7) Genocidal Language Games
8) Freedom of Expression and Racist Hate Speech
9) The Danish Cartoons Controversy: Hate Speech Laws and Unintended Consequences
10) A Right to Be Free from Religious Hatred?
11) Free to Hate? Anti-Gypsyism in 21st-Century Europe
Zusätzliche Hinweise zu Prüfungen:
Grades for this course will entirely be based on the final two-hour written exam. In the final exam, I will give you 8 conceptual questions, out of which you would need to attempt 2. These exams can be taken online and are completely open-book - you are free to utilize any and every material.
One thing I would like to mention about the exams is that while the readings are more detailed than what we will cover in class, I will not for the exam ask you any questions which we have not gotten a chance to discuss in class (often multiple times in the semester).
As far as Erasmus students taking this course are concerned, if you have taken this course and would like to receive a grade for the class, I offer you two options - either doing a viva or a written exam. If you choose to do a viva, it will last roughly 15 minutes, where I will ask you general questions relating to the course. Alternatively, you could decide to write a written exam that will be approximately one hour, and I will give you four or five conceptual questions, out of which you need to attempt one. The same instructions provided above for the general exam apply to written examinations for Erasmus students as well. Both viva and written options will occur in the 8-10 days following your last class. I will conduct both on multiple days during the period to allow you flexibility based on your other exams etc.
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