This is part of the Political Philosophy and Race Speaker Series.
The location will be posted closer to the date.
Title: The Dread of Tyrants: Frederick Douglass on Dignity and the Liberty of Thought and Expression
Abstract:
Frederick Douglass (c. 1817–1895), an American former slave, abolitionist leader, and icon, justified the liberties of thought and expression, encompassing opinion, literacy, and speech. His defense of freedom of thought and expression was directly connected to his principal mission to declaim and argue against slavery and the subjugation of Black Americans. The struggle for these liberties was at the core of his narrative of personal development and the blossoming of self-respect, and it drove his commitment to moral suasion in the abolitionist cause and the realization of equal citizenship for all. His justification of these liberties and the ultimate purpose he believed they served is a valuable contribution to classic nineteenth-century moral and political theories of freedom. I explain his view of the liberties of thought and expression by appealing to some of his key speeches and scenes from his autobiographical writings. However, beyond the importance and detail of his argument is the value of what grounds them. I contend that Douglass based those liberties on a view of human dignity that is irreducibly moral and existential, which should, in turn, form and guide those liberties in a democratic and egalitarian direction.
