Cohort: POLS 37°
Topic of the thesis: Free speech and hate speech: between regulation and counterspeech
Abstract: The aim of this project is to curb hate speech. To reduce hate speech I propose to unify two opposing tools in the literature: regulation, which allows restrictions on free speech, and counterspeech, a non-coercive tool that consists of responding directly to hate speech by attempting to delegitimize it. I propose to combine them, as in my opinion regulation is the most effective tool to respond to the proliferation of hate speech in the immediate term, however, it is not sufficient to completely constrain hate: hate always returns. For this reason, counterspeech is necessary to prevent the future demand for hate speech and to enable the promotion of a tolerant climate open to pluralism. To do so, I divide this project into three parts. In the first part, I present the key concepts of this research: on the one hand, free speech and the classical theories in its defense, and on the other hand, hate speech and its harms. After looking closely at these concepts, in the second part, I begin to answer the research question: how to fight the proliferation of hate speech. To do so, I propose regulation as a solution and justify it, demonstrating that classical theories in defense of free speech should allow restrictions when the speech is hate speech. Finally, in the third section, I present the second part of the answer to the research question and propose a counterspeech. Specifically, in my view, counterspeech must be actively exercised by those citizens who within a hate speech situation are recognized as tolerant citizens.
Research interests: Free speech; Hate speech; Fake news; Populist rhetoric; Moral dilemmas; Virtue ethics; Epistemic vices.
Graduated from: Università degli Studi di Genova (BA and MA).
Degrees obtained: BA in Philosophy; MA in Philosophical Methodologies (Curriculum: ethics and politics)
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