Abstracts

Ejvind Hansen (Bio)

Freedom of Silence as a Means to Freedom of Thought

This presentation challenges a century-old assumption in democratic theory by reevaluating the significance of silence. Traditionally, democratic discourse has emphasized freedoms such as freedom of speech and information, assuming that the ability to express oneself publicly is a scarce resource. While accepting this intuition, I wish to supplement it by adding its opposite. Just as dialogue and information are indispensable ingredients in a functioning democracy, I want to show that silence is also a fundamental prerequisite – and increasingly a scarce resource.

With this in mind, I suggest that we supplement thinking about freedom of expression with similar reflections about freedom of silence.

Analytically, the presentation draws upon the writings of Heidegger and Derrida to argue that silence in various ways structures the social and discursive horizons of democratic public exchanges. With special reference to Heidegger's analyses of Erschweigung and Derrida's analyses of hospitality, it is demonstrated that silence and silencing are requisites for language and communication to be possible.

Heidegger, however, further argues that in some kinds of communication, silence is under pressure with the emergence of "idle talk" as a result. Thus I, critically, will argue (through a reading of Deleuze) that it is important to work consciously with forms of silence to make space for a thoughtfulness that is not committed to immediate understandability. One of the ways in which this can happen is through taking breaks from engagement in discussions in the public sphere.

In short, it will be argued that taking breaks from public deliberation will broaden our thinking and discursive horizons, whereby increased thoughtfulness is possible.