L. W. Sumner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._W._Sumner

Sumner is University Professor Emeritus of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Since 2002, he has been a University Professor, the highest academic honour that the university accords its faculty. Sumner received his bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1962 and his doctoral degree from Princeton University in 1965, with a thesis supervised by Stuart Hampshire and Joel Feinberg. In 1990 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2009 he was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.… (meer)

This book examines what limits may be acceptable to freedom of expression by exploring harms that may be caused by pornography or hate speech. It is well written; scholarly and theorhetical yet easy to read. However, I didn't agree with his premise that limits to free speech should be assessed only by looking at direct harm. I think this displays a misunderstading of the harms that can flow from pornography and hate speech.

I would have liked Mr. Sumner to do a little more comparative analysis between pornography and hate speech. The latter is almost always treated as a crime by its very nature; the former is not usually.

The book looks at state limits to freedom of expression. Yet, the state is often not the most oppressive force limiting the free expression --- for example, the freedom of battered women, or victims of racial discrimination.

The author admitted that he structured his analysis from his own narrow perspective, and I was left wondering how often this happens in myriad areas of public policy writing and thinking.… (meer)