Volume 36, Issue 2, Fall 2022
Jesper Ahlin Marceta
Pages 191-211
The Definition, Extent, and Justification of Academic Freedom
Philosophers have said surprisingly little about academic freedom, considering how central it is to liberal societies. This article takes a holistic approach to the topic by developing a framework for philosophical analyses of academic freedom. It treats the definition, extent, and justification of academic freedom, arguing in favor of an individualist account thereof. The complete theory is constructed using the same methods and moral arguments as in analyses of other liberal freedoms, such as freedom of speech and association, which means that the account is fully integrable in all liberal societies.