Words, Actions, and Liberty: Tara Smith Decodes the First Amendment

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2024

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

First Amendment scholar and philosopher Tara Smith offers a comprehensive analysis of free speech, situating her work within the broader intellectual landscape. She examines the perspectives of historical figures like John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and John Stuart Mill while addressing contemporary issues such as social media speech, “cancel culture,” and religious exemptions. Smith’s approach involves dissecting key concepts like censorship and freedom, exploring the crucial distinction between speech and action.

Tara Smith is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where she has taught since 1989. A specialist in moral, legal, and political philosophy, she is author of the books Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist (Cambridge, 2006), Viable Values: A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), and Moral Rights and Political Freedom (Rowman and Littlefield 1995). Smith’s scholarly articles span such subjects as rights conflicts, the morality of money, everyday justice, forgiveness, friendship, pride, moral perfection, and the value of spectator sports.

Shermer and Smith discuss the First Amendment, the definition of freedom, the nature of rights, and how freedoms are won or lost. The conversation explores contemporary issues such as social media censorship, hate speech, and the blurring lines between speech and action. It also delves into legal concepts like libel, slander, and compelled speech. Historical context is provided through references to influential figures like Oliver Wendell Holmes and his introduction of the clear and present danger test in First Amendment law.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Michael Sherman Show. The Michael Sherber Show There before we get into the details of your research on the First Amendment and
0:28.8	free speech and so on, give us some idea of how you got into philosophy and how in God's name you're able to talk about
0:35.9	Einrand in a real university. She's been kind of taboo there for a long time.
0:48.6	I got interested in philosophy in late high school, college. I had always been interested in law and politics and history in that area and then in at the University of Virginia where I was an undergrad
0:56.0	as I was taking some philosophy classes and some political science classes even their theoretical ones I didn't find the political theory
1:06.0	government courses. I didn't find as deep as probing and as rewarding as the
1:11.2	philosophy courses so I got more
1:12.8	interested in philosophy.
1:14.0	I ended up double majoring.
1:15.7	I had a professor who was very good
1:18.3	as a professor in some political and legal courses.
1:21.2	I would go talk to him in his hours. One day it dawned on me. I could do what he does for a living.
1:25.7	I want to work on these issues. I want you know I want to figure out the answers.
1:29.2	So I was just very curious about real fundamental questions and thus developed my interest in having this kind of career.
1:36.0	I was fortunate, this UT, where I've been since 89, as you said, this was my first job out of grad school and it's just really worked out
1:46.7	I've been you know I don't work exclusively on Ein Rand um my perspective is very much influenced and coming from
1:56.4	Ran's perspective, but I work on all sorts of issues sometimes more directly on
2:01.5	Rand herself, but reception has been okay I mean you know there
2:05.5	are wrinkles and so on in terms of other academic reception but fortunately and I think
2:11.0	appropriately she's gained a much more respected hearing in the last few decades within the academy,
2:18.0	within academic philosophy and within other fields, for good reason.
2:22.0	And so I've been okay.
	...

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