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Censorship as a Typographical Chimera. John Milton and John Locke on Gestures

Béla Mester-2010-01-01-University of Zagreb University Computing Centre (SRCE)

TL;DRAbstract

The aim of my paper is to show some elements in Milton’s and Locke’s political writings,
\ndepending on their attitudes to different media. Milton in his argumentation against
\ncensorship must demonstrate that all the ancient instances for censorship, usually cited
\nin his century, can be interpreted as examples of another phenomenon. However, Milton,
\nanalysing loci of Plato’s Republic and some Scriptural topics, recognises the scope and
\nsignificance of non-conceptual, non-printed, non-verbal forms of communication; he describes
\nthem as signs of childish, female or uneducated behaviours, as valueless phenomena
\nfrom the point of view of political liberty incarnated in the freedom of press. John Locke’s
\nattitude is the same. I will show a chain of ideas, similar to Milton’s one, in his Two Tracts
\non Government and in his Epistola de tolerantia, focusing the analyses on the concept of
\nadiaphora (indifferent things).

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The aim of my paper is to show some elements in Milton’s and Locke’s political writings,
\ndepending on their attitudes to different media. Milton in his argumentation against
\ncensorship must demonstrate that all the ancient instances for censorship, usually cited
\nin his century, can be interpreted as examples of another phenomenon. However, Milton,
\nanalysing loci of Plato’s Republic and some Scriptural topics, recognises the scope and
\nsignificance of non-conceptual, non-printed, non-verbal forms of communication; he describes
\nthem as signs of childish, female or uneducated behaviours, as valueless phenomena
\nfrom the point of view of political liberty incarnated in the freedom of press. John Locke’s
\nattitude is the same. I will show a chain of ideas, similar to Milton’s one, in his Two Tracts
\non Government and in his Epistola de tolerantia, focusing the analyses on the concept of
\nadiaphora (indifferent things).

Keywords

CensorshipPoliticsArgumentation theoryPhilosophyGesturePhenomenonLiteratureEpistemology

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