logo logo logo logo

‘No debate!’ is an imperative issued by some individuals with strong views about culturally salient moral or political issues. Inside academia, it shows up in refusals to cite or engage with work; refusals to share platforms; refusals to invite particular people to conferences or workshops. 'No debate!' is a common political tactic, often deployed by the side that enjoys the support of the public (why risk losing it?), and/or as a way of signalling the intensity of one's moral judgement (just think how bad your view must be if I am willing to silence you over it!). In this talk I'm interested in the question of whether 'no debate!' is ever more than a political move. If it is sometimes unethical to debate: when, and why? And do the same normative considerations that apply in thinking about debate in the public sphere apply equally inside the university?

About the Speaker

Holly Lawford-Smith is Associate Professor in Political Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She has worked in three main research areas: political feasibility; climate ethics & collective responsibility; and feminism, and has recently started work on a fourth, free speech and hate speech. Her feminist work includes the books Gender-Critical Feminism (OUP, 2022); Sex Matters: Essay in Gender-Critical Philosophy (OUP: 2023); and Is It Wrong To Buy Sex? A Debate (Routledge, 2024). She writes regularly for the online magazines Quillette and Fairer Disputations.