The only way, in fact, to attain the right is by free discussion; and a period of crisis, when the perception of right is difficult, only makes the emphasis upon freedom more fundamental.
Harold J. Laski: “The only way, in fact, to attain the right is by free discussion; and a period of crisis, when the perception of right…”
Editor's note · Context
He emphasizes that free discussion is essential for understanding rights, especially in times of crisis.
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Each age finds that the incidence of freedom is significant at some special point, and there, once more, the lesson of freedom has to be learned.
He is able, accordingly, to indulge in the twofold luxury not only of preserving his own authority, but also of assisting the persons attacked to enter, if they so choose, the way of truth.
The intolerance may be Catholic, when it insists that a unity of outlook is essential for the preservation of society; or it may be Protestant when, as with Calvin and the Socinians, it holds that the blasphemous nature of the belief…
To deny novelty or grievance a right of expression is a certain, if, indeed, an ultimate, validation of the truth they contain.





