Dear counterspeakers, In our next session, we'll join the longstanding conversation on whether ignorant speech - be it political misinformation or hate speech - may be countered with 'more speech'. We might argue, skeptically, that "the counterspeech response operates with a naive conception of how language works". More precisely, we might say, "it overlooks the asymmetric pliability of conversational norms-the phenomenon whereby it is easier to enact conversational norms than it is subsequently to undo those norms. Because of this phenomenon, the damaging effects of ignorant speech on public discourse are difficult to reverse, or 'sticky.'"
In next session's paper, however, Maxime Lepoutre will give us not only an account of how that stickiness is even worse for the prospects of counterspeech than we might have expected - but we'll also get "a more sophisticated account of counterspeech, which is distinctively suited to overcoming this problem". That account, we're hoping, "will help us arrive at a normative ideal of public discourse that is more finely attuned to nonideal conditions". Join us next week to discuss "Can 'More Speech' Counter Ignorant Speech?" Attention yet again, we've adjusted the timeslot a little: we're meeting 15 minutes earlier to start introductions earlier and hopefully help people who need to leave earlier in the end. So, please join us on Wednesday, September 30th, from 6.00 to 7.30pm UK time, for the discussion. Please find the reading here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2abljmb1zwd5vnt/Lepoutre%20-%20Can%20%27More%20Speech%27%20Counter%20Ignorant%20Speech.pdf?dl=0 And please join the meeting here: https://zoom.us/j/95270195257 Meeting-ID: 952 7019 5257 The very best, Nikki _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list, or change your membership options, please visit the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents List archive: https://lists.cam.ac.uk/pipermail/phil-events/ Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email attachments. See the list information page for further details and suggested alternatives.
