KINDLY INQUISITORS: The New Attacks on Free...

KINDLY INQUISITORS: The New Attacks on Free Thought by Jonathan Rauch (University of Chicago Press: $9.95; 178 pp.). Rauch argues that American democracy rests on the liberal scientific principals that all ideas must be tested constantly and that no idea can be accepted without testing because of its source. The conflict between liberals and fundamentalists arises not from a clash between religion and atheism, but epistemology: Belief cannot be accepted as empirical knowledge. Rauch notes the increasing number of threats to free expression from the left’s desire to limit unpleasant speech. He strips away the kindly veneer to reveal the authoritarian underpinnings (and results) of such speech codes, and dismisses efforts to equate unkind words with violent actions. Unpleasant speech, Rauch maintains, is the necessary price of free speech: “ . . . We all benefit enormously from living in a society which is rich with prejudices, because strong opinions, however biased or wrongheaded, energize debate.” His disciplined, Erasmian approach to discourse offers a welcome antidote to the recent trend toward attack-dog politics.