Recipes, Plans, Instructions, and the Free Speech Implications of Words That Are Tools

Abstract

This chapter investigates whether speech acts of urging, advising, recommending, instructing, and informing ought all to be treated in the same way for purposes of implementing a principle of freedom of speech, and asks: If not, how do we justify treating them differently? This problem is arguably more pressing than it has been in the past, as the internet and various forms of social media have seemingly caused the mass distribution of instructions for committing antisocial acts have proliferated. After discussion of examples of publications that allow the reader to acquire knowledge on how to engage in dangerous activities, the chapter concludes that the normative and philosophical questions about the relationship between freedom of speech and the provision of instructions, plans, recipes, and detailed facts are in the final analysis less philosophical than they are empirical and social scientific.