Regimes of Tolerance: A Communitarian Approach to Freedom of Expression and Its Limits

MARK CRAWFORD

ABSTRACT

The difficulty of justifying freedom of expression in terms of liberal theory is magnified in the context of the Canadian constitution, where linguistic duality and federalism values come into conflict with individual speech rights and can affect their interpretation. Communitarianism, when formulated as a systematic collectivist alternative to liberal individualism, is also unlikely to provide the basis of an adequate justification for freedom of expression. The author argues that a viable "communitarian" approach to freedom of expression can best be developed by reference to immanent critiques of the rigid individualism/collectivism dichotomy that characterize mainstream social thought. The structure and content of problems in justifying freedom of expression are shown to directly parallel those identified by critical writers in democratic theory, moral philosophy, and social theory. By examining the implications of their works for thinking about expression, we can better understand the freedom and the proper grounds for its limitation.

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Citation: (1990) 48(1) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 1.
Copyright © 1990. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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