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Part of a series on
Freedom
By concept

Economic freedom
Philosophical freedom
Political freedom
Liberty
By form

Assembly
Association
From government
Movement
Press
Religion and beliefs
Speech & expression
Thought
Self-defense
Other

Censorship
Coercion
Children's rights
Human rights
Indices
Media transparency
Negative liberty
Positive liberty

Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience and freedom of ideas) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Economic freedom is freedom to produce trade and consume any goods and services acquired without the use of force fraud or theft Freedom, or the idea of being free is a broad concept that Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression Liberty, the freedom to act or believe without being stopped by unnecessary force Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the Freedom of association, is the Individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively Freedom of association is the Individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express promote pursue and defend common interests thumb| |Broken Liberty Istanbul Archaeology Museum Civil liberties are freedoms that protect the Individual from the Government. Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a Human rights concept which is respected in the Constitutions of numerous Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press Freedom of religion is the freedom of an individual or community in public or private to manifest religion or belief in teaching practice worship and observance Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. The right of self-defense (also called alter ego defense, defense of others, defense of a third person) is the right for civilians acting on their Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor Coercion (co-er-shion is the practice of compelling a person or manipulating them to behave in an involuntary way (whether through action or inaction by use of threats Children's rights are the Human rights of Children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young including their Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled There are several Non-governmental organizations that publish and maintain assessments of the state of freedom in the world according to their own various definitions of Media Transparency is the concept of determining how and why Information is conveyed through various means The concept of negative liberty refers to freedom from interference by other people ||-||} Positive liberty refers to the opportunity and ability to act to fulfill one's own potential as opposed to Negative liberty, which refers to freedom from Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both It is closely related to, yet distinct from, the concept of freedom of expression. Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation.

Contents

Explanation

To deny a person's freedom of thought is to deny what can be considered one's most basic freedom; to think for one's self.

Since the whole concept of 'freedom of thought' rests on the freedom of the individual to believe whatever one thinks is best (freedom of belief), the notion of 'freedom of religion' is closely related and inextricably bound up with these. Freedom of religion is the freedom of an individual or community in public or private to manifest religion or belief in teaching practice worship and observance While in many societies and forms of government, there has been effectively no freedom of religion or belief, this same freedom has been cherished and developed to a great extent in the modern western world, such that it has often been taken for granted.

This development was enshrined in words in the United States Constitution by the Bill of Rights, which contains the famous guarantee in the First Amendment that laws may not be made that interfere with religion "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. In the United States the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress Today nearly all democratic nations around the world contain similar language within their respective Constitutions.

A US Supreme Court Justice (Benjamin Cardozo) later went on to reason in Palko v. Connecticut (1937) that:

"Freedom of thought. This is a list of past and present justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Benjamin Nathan Cardozo ( May 24, 1870 &ndash July 9, 1938) was a well-known American Lawyer and Jurist, remembered Palko v Connecticut,, was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment protection against . . is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. With rare aberrations a pervasive recognition of this truth can be traced in our history, political and legal. "[1]

In other words, without the right to freedom of thought, other rights such as the right to freedom of speech hold little meaning. Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation.

Such ideas regarding freedom of thought, as developed over time, ultimately became a vital part of international human rights law. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), it is listed under Article 18:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly ( 10 December 1948 at Palais

The Human Rights Committee states that the above Article 18, which became legally binding on member states with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

"distinguishes the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief from the freedom to manifest religion or belief. The Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by UN member states on their compliance The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a United Nations Treaty based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created in It does not permit any limitations whatsoever on the freedom of thought and conscience or on the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of one's choice. These freedoms are protected unconditionally. "[2]

Similarly, Article 19 of the UDHR guarantees that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference. . . "

Suppression of freedom of thought

One obvious impediment to those who would suppress freedom of thought, is that no one human being can possibly even know what everyone else is really thinking — let alone successfully regulate it.

This impossibility of controlling thought is perhaps summarized in the biblical context in Ecclesiastes 8:8: "There is no man that has power over the spirit, to retain it; neither has he power in the day of death. Ecclesiastes (often abbreviated Ecc) (קֹהֶלֶת Kohelet, variously transliterated as Qoheleth, Göhalath, Koheles, Koheleth " In other words, trying to control the thoughts of others is as futile as trying to control death. A similar sentiment is expressed in the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, where he seems to liken those who vainly attempt to control the emotions of their neighbours to "the children in the marketplace" who try to produce dancing with a happy song and mourning with a dirge, and then express frustration at their futility in trying to do so. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) (Matthew 11:16)

Laws that attempt to regulate what goes on inside a person's head have long been regarded with suspicion. The Gospel of Matthew (Gk Κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον is one of the four Canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a Synoptic gospel Queen Elizabeth I removed one such law, several hundred years ago, because, according to Sir Francis Bacon, "'Not liking to make windows into men's souls and secret thoughts". Francis Bacon 1st Viscount St Alban KC QC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626 was an English Philosopher, Statesman, and author [3]

While freedom of thought is said to be one of the fundamental principles of most democracies, the attempted suppression of freedom of thought is a prominent characteristic of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private Authoritarianism describes a Form of government characterized by an emphasis on the Authority of the State in a republic or union Freedom of expression can be limited in several ways — through censorship, arrests, book burning, or propaganda, and this tends to discourage freedom of thought. Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable harmful or sensitive as determined by a censor Book burning (a category of biblioclasm or book destruction is the practice of destroying often ceremoniously, one or more copies of a book or other written material Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people Examples of effective campaigns against freedom of expression are the Soviet suppression of genetics research known as Lysenkoism, the book burning campaigns of Nazi Germany, the radical anti-intellectualism enforced in Cambodia under Pol Pot, and the strict laws and crackdown upon freedom of expression by the communist government of the Peoples Republic of China. Lysenkoism was a set of repressive political and social campaigns in science and Agriculture by the powerful Stalinist director of the Soviet Lenin All-Union Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Anti-intellectualism describes a sentiment of hostility towards or mistrust of Intellectuals and Intellectual pursuits The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Saloth Sar ( May 19, 1925 – April 15, 1998) also known as Pol Pot, was leader of the Communist movement known as

Freedom of expression can also be stifled without institutional interference when the views of the majority become so widely accepted that other ways of expression are repressed. A majority, also known as a simple majority in the US, is a Subset of a group that is more than half of the entire group For this reason, some condemn "political correctness" as a form of limiting freedom of thought. Political correctness (adjectivally politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term applied to Language, ideas policies or behavior Although proponents of "political correctness" claim that it aims to give minority views an equal representation, critics point to instances in which the majority view is also the view which is seen as "politically correct. " For example, college student Max Karson was arrested following the Virginia Tech shootings for politically incorrect comments that authorities saw as "sympathetic to the killer. The Virginia Tech massacre was a School shooting consisting of two separate attacks approximately two hours apart on April 16 2007 that took place on the campus of " Karson's arrest raised important questions regarding freedom of thought and whether or not it applies in educational settings.

The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, which states that thought is inherently embedded in language, would support the claim that an effort to limit the use of words of language is actually a form of restricting freedom of thought. In Linguistics, the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis ( SWH) (also known as the " Linguistic relativity hypothesis " postulates a systematic relationship Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them This was explored in George Orwell's novel 1984, with the idea of Newspeak, a stripped-down form of the English language lacking the capacity for metaphor and limiting expression of original ideas. Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 who used the Pseudonym George Orwell, was an English writer Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Newspeak is a Fictional language in George Orwell 's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States

Internet censorship and freedom of thought

A screenshot of a blocked website in Iran.
A screenshot of a blocked website in Iran.

A current example of censorship and therefore attempted suppression of freedom of thought, is the control of information on the world wide web in such countries as Iran[4], Saudi Arabia, UK[5], Egypt[6], China, Germany and others[7]. Censorship in Iran is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing dissemination and viewing of certain information in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Censorship in Saudi Arabia is prevalent in the press and with internet access Censorship in the United Kingdom has a long history with variously stringent and lax laws in place at different times although a much more liberal approach has been taken in recent years This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. See also Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China The Golden Shield Project ( sometimes referred to as the Great Firewall of China Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. In October 2006, Iranian mullahs ordered internet service providers to reduce connection speeds for home and cafe computers. An Internet service provider ( ISP, also called Internet access provider or IAP) is a company which primarily offers their customers access to the Internet [8]

Drug prohibition

Main articles: Cognitive liberty and Prohibition (drugs)

Despite the many laws concerning freedom of thought, amongst philosophers, there is no consensus on what thought itself actually is. Cognitive liberty is the freedom to be the absolute Sovereignty of the individual ’s own Consciousness. The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary Legislation or Religious law is a common means of attempting to control Drug use and the Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Thought and thinking are mental forms and Processes respectively ("thought" is both However, the field of neurochemistry uses a pragmatic view in linking thoughts to patterns of brain activity - "almost everyone now agrees. Neurochemistry is the branch of Neuroscience devoted to the study of Neurochemicals A neurochemical is an organic molecule that participates in neural activity . . that the subject of mental properties and events is a physical thing. " [9]

Patterns of brain activity can be altered by taking psychoactive drugs – ranging from caffeine to fluoxetine (Prozac) to LSD. A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a Chemical substance that acts primarily upon the Central nervous system where it alters Brain Caffeine is a bitter white crystalline Xanthine Alkaloid that acts as a Psychoactive Stimulant Drug and a mild Diuretic The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines a psychoactive substance as "any substance that people take to change either the way they feel, think, or behave. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC is a United Nations agency that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention "[10]

Authors such as Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley and Terence McKenna have argued that certain psychoactive drugs, or ‘entheogens’, may be used to favorably alter the way we think. Timothy Francis Leary ( October 22, 1920 &ndash May 31, 1996) was an American Writer, Psychologist, Futurist Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 &ndash 22 November 1963 was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Terence Kemp McKenna ( November 16 1946 – April 3 2000) was a Writer, Philosopher, and Ethnobotanist. An entheogen, in the strictest sense is a Psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic (or entheogenic) context Religious groups have also traditionally used specific plants to alter thought, aiding members in worship or helping to put them in touch with God. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Examples of this are the Rastafari movement’s use of cannabis, Islamic Sufi mystics' use of hashish to be present with the Godhead, indigenous Amazonian peoples' ritualistic usage of the ayahuasca tea in order to connect with the spirit(s) of the jungle, Native American use of peyote and the chewing of khat (heralded as a "pipeline to Allah" among many Muslims in Eastern Africa). The Rastafari movement (also known as Rastafari, Rastafarianism or simply Rasta) is a monotheistic, Abrahamic, New Testament Cannabis, also known as marijuana or marihuana, or ganja (from Hindi / Sanskrit: गांजा gānjā hemp) is a Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Hashish (from Arabic: ar حشيش, lit "grass" also hash) is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed This entry focuses on the Ayahuasca brew for information on the vine of the same name see Banisteriopsis caapi Ayahuasca For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Lophophora williamsii (loʊˈfɒfərə wɪlˈjæmsiaɪ lō-fof′ŏ-ră will-yăm′sē-ī better known by its common name Peyote, (from the KHAT (1210 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Sports format Allah ( Arabic: الله, ʔalˤːɑːh) is the standard Arabic word for ' A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion

Some non-governmental organizations, such as the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, argue that placing limits on the use of certain drugs is akin to placing a limit on thought itself – thus violating the right to cognitive liberty. Cognitive liberty is the freedom to be the absolute Sovereignty of the individual ’s own Consciousness. Cognitive liberty is the freedom to be the absolute Sovereignty of the individual ’s own Consciousness.

Constitutional rights-based arguments against blanket drug prohibition have featured in US legal history since the 1960s. The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary Legislation or Religious law is a common means of attempting to control Drug use and the In February of 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right to religious drug use, ruling for União do Vegetal in Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal. Stories without links will be removed. News stories must be in English The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. União do Vegetal ( Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal or UDV) is a Christian religion based on the use of Hoasca (or Ayahuasca --the Gonzales v O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U This case now features in arguments for and against drug prohibition. The '''prohibition of drugs''' is a subject of considerable controversy The distinction to be made is that government regulation of drug use is not prohibiting any thought but rather prohibiting conduct.

A recent British case involving this line of legal argument is that of Casey William Hardison, who is awaiting a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights after being refused a final appeal at the House of Lords, the highest court in Great Britain. The European Court of Human Rights ( ECtHR) (Cour européenne des droits de l’homme in Strasbourg was established under the European Convention on Human Rights The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords" Hardison is currently serving a twenty year sentence for producing a variety of entheogenic drugs. An entheogen, in the strictest sense is a Psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic (or entheogenic) context

See also

References and notes

  1. ^ Palko v. State of Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319 (1937). The question of free will Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without Censorship or Limitation. Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that Beliefs should be formed on the basis of Science and Logic and should not be influenced Hate crimes (also known as bias motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain Social group, usually defined That the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one I think denies Intellectual freedom is a human right as defined by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Neuroethics is most commonly understood to be the subcategory of Bioethics concerned with Neuroscience and Neurotechnology. Prisoner of conscience (POC is a term coined by the human rights group Amnesty International in the early 1960s In George Orwell 's Dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four the Government attempts to control not only the speech and actions but also the Nineteen Eighty-Four (also titled 1984) by George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) is a 1949 English Novel Palko v Connecticut,, was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment protection against
  2. ^ General Comment No. 22: The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion ( Art. 18) : . 30/07/93. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.4, General Comment No. 22. (General Comments). United Nations Human Rights Website - Treaty Bodies Database. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1993-07-30). The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR) is a United Nations agency that works to promote and protect the human Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Retrieved on 2007-10-21. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.
  3. ^ Brimacombe, Peter (2000). All the Queen's Men: The World of Elizabeth I. Palgrave Macmillan, 125. ISBN 0312232519.  
  4. ^ Iranian bloggers rally against censorship BBC News 11 December 2003
  5. ^ Government sets deadline for universal network-level content blocking
  6. ^ Egyptian blogger sentenced to jail Al Jazeera 22 February 2007
  7. ^ Internet Censorship - law & policy around the world
  8. ^ Blocking Information In Iran Voice of America
  9. ^ Botterill, George; Peter Carruthers (1999). Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. George Steven Botterill (born 8 January 1949) is a British chess player and writer The Philosophy of Psychology. Cambridge University, 3. ISBN 0521559154.  
  10. ^ Drugs of Abuse - The Facts. UNODC. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006). The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC is a United Nations agency that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention Retrieved on 2007-10-21. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.

Further reading

  1. George Botterill and Peter Carruthers, ‘The Philosophy of Psychology’, Cambridge University Press (1999), p3
  2. The Hon. Sir John Laws, ‘The Limitations of Human Rights’, [1998] P. L. Summer, Sweet & Maxwell and Contributors, p260

External links

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