We study the effect of scarcity on decision making by low income Swedes. We exploit the random assignment of welfare payments to study their borrowing decisions within the pawn and mainstream credit market. We document that higher educated borrowers borrow less frequently and choose lower loan to value ratios when their budget constraints are exogenously tighter. In contrast, low-educated borrowers do not respond to temporary elevated levels of scarcity. This lack of response translates into a significantly higher probability to default (...) and an 11.6% increase in borrowing cost. We show that a difference in access to liquidity and/or buffer stocks cannot explain our results. Instead a framework, where the awareness of self-control problems is positively correlated with education can explain that high-educated consumers choose a lower LTV as a commitment device to increase their likelihood to repay. Analogously, low-educated with less awareness of their future self-control problems, do not tie themselves to the mast and thus ignore the consequences of their credit decisions when focusing on solving acute liquidity problems. Our findings highlight that increased levels of scarcity risk reinforcing the conditions of poverty through overborrowing. (shrink)

Co-écrit par Chloé Galibert-Laîné et Guillaume Grandjean, l’essai vidéo GeoMarkr (22 minutes, 2022) explore différentes pratiques de l’enquête spatiale médiatisée, des explorations filmiques de Chris Marker au jeu vidéo GeoGuessr. Les deux auteurices ont proposé à Corentin Lê de se joindre, le temps d’un échange, à leurs déambulations théoriques.

Pour appréhender le costume en archéologie protohistorique européenne, il faut le plus souvent se satisfaire des accessoires vestimentaires métalliques conservés dans les sépultures, tels que les fibules et les éléments de ceinture. Cette nature instable des vestiges limite notre compréhension de l’implication du costume dans la construction sociale des différences entre les individus des ensembles funéraires. Néanmoins, l’examen des éléments métalliques de ceinture permet d’avoir une image dynamique de l’emploi de ces objets dans la représentation et la création de ces (...) différences, qui ne reposent pas nécessairement sur une dualité entre des ensembles sépulcraux dits « masculins » ou « féminins ». La ceinture doit être investie d’une signification symbolique particulière pour devenir un objet participant à la structuration des différences entre les genres. (shrink)

Qu'elle soit entendue comme état de désordre social ou qu'elle soit pensée comme ordre social sans Etat, l'anarchie reste difficilement appréhendée par les juristes autrement que par l'exclusion. Droit et anarchie seraient incompatibles, car le droit impliquerait nécessairement l'autorité (dont l'Etat moderne constitue la forme ultime, par la monopolisation du pouvoir de contrainte) que l'anarchie supprime. Aussi, l'étude de l'anarchie n'aurait plus grand chose à révéler au juriste, et sa marginalisation intellectuelle ne devrait pas surprendre. Pourtant, est-il vraiment satisfaisant de (...) cantonner la question de l'anarchie à l'histoire des idées politiques, alors que l'enjeu du débat touche les fondements mêmes de l'ordre juridique? C'est cette question complexe des rapports entre le droit et l'anarchie que cet ouvrage - qui regroupe les actes d'une journée d'étude organisée par l'Institut d'études de droit public de la faculté jean Monnet de l'Université Paris Sud - se propose d'investir à nouveau. (shrink)

Les deux dernières décennies ont été marquées dans les pays occidentaux par d’importants changements culturels dans les domaines de la sexualité et de la parenté. En France, les évolutions législatives telles que le vote du pacte civil de solidarité (pacs) en 1999 et l’ouverture du mariage aux individus de même sexe en 2013, ainsi que les polémiques et les mouvements d’opposition qu’elles ont suscités, témoignent des profondes mutations à l’œuvre dans nos systèmes de parenté et nos modes de c...

Cet article décrit les dispositifs psychologiques d’urgence mis en place en France pour prendre en charge les rescapés des attaques terroristes. Ceux-ci comprennent une prise en charge immédiate des victimes, temps d’étayage et de soutien, suivie quelques jours après d’un débriefing ou d’un groupe de paroles. L’auteur rappelle les conséquences psychologiques de l’effraction traumatique, puis rapporte des exemples d’interventions, tant dans l’immédiateté que dans les jours qui suivent. La première action psycho-thérapeutique initiée par ces dispositifs d’urgence est indispensable, mais une (...) attention à plus long terme doit se poursuivre. En effet des troubles psychotraumatiques chroniques peuvent se déclencher chez des rescapés plusieurs années après l’attentat, en particulier lorsqu’un autre se produit, comme cela est illustré par un cas. (shrink)

Cet article décrit les dispositifs psychologiques d’urgence mis en place en France pour prendre en charge les rescapés des attaques terroristes. Ceux-ci comprennent une prise en charge immédiate des victimes, temps d’étayage et de soutien, suivie quelques jours après d’un débriefing ou d’un groupe de paroles. L’auteur rappelle les conséquences psychologiques de l’effraction traumatique, puis rapporte des exemples d’interventions, tant dans l’immédiateté que dans les jours qui suivent. La première action psycho-thérapeutique initiée par ces dispositifs d’urgence est indispensable, mais une (...) attention à plus long terme doit se poursuivre. En effet des troubles psychotraumatiques chroniques peuvent se déclencher chez des rescapés plusieurs années après l’attentat, en particulier lorsqu’un autre se produit, comme cela est illustré par un cas. (shrink)

L’idéologie sous-jacente à la théorie de l’État de Raymond Carré de Malberg et de Hans Kelsen est marquée par la délicate articulation entre le pouvoir, l’ordre et la liberté. Si la place accordée à la démocratie et aux libertés est résiduelle chez Carré de Malberg, elle ressort bien plus clairement chez Kelsen. Les deux auteurs restent néanmoins fortement imprégnés, dans la logique positiviste, par l’idée d’ordre (articulant unité et puissance) qui structure encore, en filigrane, nos systèmes juridiques contemporains.

Au cours de la guerre froide, les organisations internationales, notamment celles du système de l’ONU, sont des tribunes instrumentalisées par les deux superpuissances pour se mettre en valeur. C’est le cas de l’UNESCO. Le discours de la cosmonaute soviétique Valentina Terechkova en 1966 est la première prise de parole d’une femme soviétique dans cette enceinte. Terechkova, qui a été la première femme au monde à effectuer, en 1963, un vol dans l’espace, utilise la tribune de l’UNESCO pour introduire des enjeux (...) de genre dans le cadre des relations internationales marquées par le contexte de guerre froide. Au-delà des rapports de force entre États marqués par la bipolarisation du monde, elle tente d’exprimer des arguments à prétention universaliste en faveur des droits des femmes et du développement, tout en produisant un discours à rhétorique typiquement soviétique. (shrink)

C’est en Corée du Sud que le sport électronique est né et s’est développé de la façon la plus spectaculaire, contribuant à la visibilité du pays auprès de la communauté internationale des joueurs. Cet article questionne la catégorisation sportive du jeu vidéo en Corée, en esquissant ses dimensions économiques, les circonstances historiques de sa mise en place, et en la confrontant à la pluralité des discours locaux.Electronic sports first emerged in South Korea, where their development has been the most spectacular, (...) contributing to the country’s notoriety in the international video gaming community. In this article, we investigate South Korea’s classification of video gaming as a sport, discussing its economic dimensions, the historical circumstances in which it emerged and comparing it with the different types of local discourse. (shrink)

Pour appréhender le costume en archéologie protohistorique européenne, il faut le plus souvent se satisfaire des accessoires vestimentaires métalliques conservés dans les sépultures, tels que les fibules et les éléments de ceinture. Cette nature instable des vestiges limite notre compréhension de l’implication du costume dans la construction sociale des différences entre les individus des ensembles funéraires. Néanmoins, l’examen des éléments métalliques de ceinture permet d’avoir une image dynamique de l’emploi de ces objets dans la représentation et la création de ces (...) différences, qui ne reposent pas nécessairement sur une dualité entre des ensembles sépulcraux dits « masculins » ou « féminins ». La ceinture doit être investie d’une signification symbolique particulière pour devenir un objet participant à la structuration des différences entre les genres. (shrink)

L’anticipation est généralement conçue comme un phénomène qui, d’un point de vue temporel et logique, est antérieur à une action ou une situation donnée. Dans cet article, nous proposons d’interroger cette conception en nous intéressant en détail à ce que l’anticipation fait à l’action qu’elle anticipe. En détail c’est-à-dire, très littéralement, en observant dans des situations d’interactions ordinaires les effets que peut produire le fait d’anticiper une action. En l’occurrence, dans des situations d’apprentissage entre hommes et chiens comme celles que (...) nous examinons, anticiper une action en l’évaluant avant qu’elle n’ait eu lieu contribue en grande part à la configurer. Cette avancée nous conduit à développer une vision proprement pragmatiste de l’action, conçue comme un procès façonné de manière émergente et collaborative par l’ensemble des participants qui l’accomplissent. (shrink)

Cet article propose le repérage et l’analyse de trois manières distinctes de conceptualiser la prière dans les travaux de sciences humaines et sociales qui la prennent pour objet à compter de la publication de l’essai de Marcel Mauss (1909). Ces trois conceptualisations de prière mises en débat dès le XXe siècle sont déterminées par une variation des stratégies discursives et des rapports au théologico-religieux. Normalisée, la prière est définie selon sa forme jugée idéale. Enchantée, elle est mise au service des (...) théories de l’homo religiosus. Désenchantée, elle est ramenée à une construction socio-psychologique. En relevant les intérêts comme les limites analytiques de chacune de ces options théoriques, l’objectif est de faire apparaître leur complémentarité afin d’esquisser les traits d’une nouvelle manière possible d’étudier la prière. (shrink)

Cette étude a été initiée neuf mois après l’incendie Lubrizol survenu le 26 septembre 2019 à Rouen. Elle a mis en œuvre une enquête par questionnaire en juin 2020 auprès de 178 collégiens et lycéens de la région rouennaise. Une enquête qualitative par entretiens individuels et focus groups a ensuite été conduite en 2021 auprès de 25 étudiants qui logeaient dans l’agglomération rouennaise au moment de l’incendie. Les résultats ont souligné les enjeux pour les familles et les attentes familiales des (...) jeunes dans les heures qui ont suivi l’incendie et au-delà. L’étude montre d’une part que les recommandations familiales en matière de comportements de protection ont été suivies par les jeunes qui ont accordé plus de crédit aux parents, médecins et professeurs qu’au maire, au préfet ou aux informations sur internet ; d’autre part que la famille s’est montrée attentive aux signes de désarroi des jeunes et à leurs stratégies de régulation émotionnelle dans les jours post-incendie. La famille a été perçue comme un espace de protection, de refuge et de réassurance. (shrink)

This article approaches the city as it is lived in events rather than as it is defined by its material forms or by its standing institutions. In the plays staged in South-African townships, in Brazilian capoeira, or in a carnival parade, the constitution of « instant communities », or « communities of movement », depends upon situations that provide the initiating movement of politics. In all such cases, the city really exists and vibrates when it is attuned to the rhythm (...) of its cultural self-invention. (shrink)

In response to two trenchant objections, radical subjective Bayesianism has been widely rejected. In this paper, I seek, if not to rehabilitate subjectivism, at least to show its critic what is attractive about the position. I argue that what is at stake in the subjectivism/anti-subjectivism debate is not, as is commonly thought, which norms of rationality are true, but rather, the conception of rationality that we adopt: there is an alternative approach to the widespread telic approach to rationality, which I (...) call the poric approach, on which subjectivism is an attractive position. I then argue that the poric approach—and therefore subjectivism—cannot be easily dismissed. (shrink)

This commentary argues the case for developmental psychopathology in understanding social learning. Informed by work on “epistemic disruption,” we have described difficulties with social learning associated with many forms of psychopathology. Epistemic disruption manifests in an inability to move between innovation and conformity, and arises from poor mentalizing, which generates difficulties in identifying social cues that trigger the correct stance.

Awareness growth—coming to entertain propositions of which one was previously unaware—is a crucial aspect of epistemic thriving. And yet, it is widely believed that orthodox Bayesianism cannot accommodate this phenomenon, since that would require employing supposedly defective catch-all propositions. Orthodox Bayesianism, it is concluded, must be amended. In this paper, I show that this argument fails, and that, on the contrary, the orthodox version of Bayesianism is particularly well-suited to accommodate awareness growth. For it entails what I call the refinement (...) view, which allows us to capture that awareness growth consists in the increase of one’s capacity of discernment. (shrink)

Implicit biases involve associations outside conscious awareness that lead to a negative evaluation of a person on the basis of irrelevant characteristics such as race or gender. This review examines the evidence that healthcare professionals display implicit biases towards patients. PubMed, PsychINFO, PsychARTICLE and CINAHL were searched for peer-reviewed articles published between 1st March 2003 and 31st March 2013. Two reviewers assessed the eligibility of the identified papers based on precise content and quality criteria. The references of eligible papers were (...) examined to identify further eligible studies. Forty two articles were identified as eligible. Seventeen used an implicit measure, to test the biases of healthcare professionals. Twenty five articles employed a between-subjects design, using vignettes to examine the influence of patient characteristics on healthcare professionals’ attitudes, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. The second method was included although it does not isolate implicit attitudes because it is recognised by psychologists who specialise in implicit cognition as a way of detecting the possible presence of implicit bias. Twenty seven studies examined racial/ethnic biases; ten other biases were investigated, including gender, age and weight. Thirty five articles found evidence of implicit bias in healthcare professionals; all the studies that investigated correlations found a significant positive relationship between level of implicit bias and lower quality of care. The evidence indicates that healthcare professionals exhibit the same levels of implicit bias as the wider population. The interactions between multiple patient characteristics and between healthcare professional and patient characteristics reveal the complexity of the phenomenon of implicit bias and its influence on clinician-patient interaction. The most convincing studies from our review are those that combine the IAT and a method measuring the quality of treatment in the actual world. Correlational evidence indicates that biases are likely to influence diagnosis and treatment decisions and levels of care in some circumstances and need to be further investigated. Our review also indicates that there may sometimes be a gap between the norm of impartiality and the extent to which it is embraced by healthcare professionals for some of the tested characteristics. Our findings highlight the need for the healthcare profession to address the role of implicit biases in disparities in healthcare. More research in actual care settings and a greater homogeneity in methods employed to test implicit biases in healthcare is needed. (shrink)

Background Implicit biases are present in the general population and among professionals in various domains, where they can lead to discrimination. Many interventions are used to reduce implicit bias. However, uncertainties remain as to their effectiveness. -/- Methods We conducted a systematic review by searching ERIC, PUBMED and PSYCHINFO for peer-reviewed studies conducted on adults between May 2005 and April 2015, testing interventions designed to reduce implicit bias, with results measured using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) or sufficiently similar methods. (...) -/- Results 30 articles were identified as eligible. Some techniques, such as engaging with others’ perspective, appear unfruitful, at least in short term implicit bias reduction, while other techniques, such as exposure to counterstereotypical exemplars, are more promising. Robust data is lacking for many of these interventions. -/- Conclusions Caution is thus advised when it comes to programs aiming at reducing biases. This does not weaken the case for implementing widespread structural and institutional changes that are multiply justified. (shrink)

Ethical issues arise in the world’s first population-level treatment of severe lead poisoning caused by small-scale mining for gold in rural Nigeria. Emergency medical intervention and environmental cleanup have reduced the mortality in children younger than 5 years from lead poisoning from over 40 to 2.5 per cent leaving little evidence of the harms caused by lead poisoning. In the absence of obvious sequelae, family adherence to long-term intensive therapy to remove accumulated lead reservoirs in children wanes and some community (...) miners challenge safer mining interventions to prevent recontamination of the environment with lead. This letter raises questions regarding community versus individual rights in public health interventions and patient autonomy. (shrink)

Le jour du Grand Pardon, présence du blanc, mon taleth immaculé, le seul taleth vierge de la famille,Comme les plumes des coqs et poules que Haim Aimé veut blanches pour le sacrifice d’avant Kippour,Le rabbin les égorge dans le jardin après les avoir tâtées sous l’aile en tenant le couteau entre les dents,puis passées au-dessus de nos têtes en prononçant nos noms, inoubliables bêtes blanches ensanglantées...

Although the philosophical systems of G. W. Leibniz and David Lewis both feature possible worlds, the ways in which their systems are similar and dissimilar are ultimately surprising. At first glance, Leibniz’s modal metaphysics might strike us as one of the most contemporarily relevant aspects of his system. But I clarify in this paper major interpretive problems that result from understanding Leibniz’s system in terms of contemporary views (like Lewis’s, for instance). Specifically, I argue that Leibniz rejects the inference that (...) if something is possible, it therefore occurs in some possible world. This discussion highlights how Leibniz’s account of individual substance (with his strict notion of identity) constrains his modal theorizing and produces fatalistic threats. I then make an unexpected connection between Leibniz’s and Lewis’s systems by showing that Leibniz’s treatment of fatalism bears similarities to the response Lewis gives to the fatalist when considering the paradoxes of time travel. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy's Role in Psychopathology Back to Jaspers and an Appeal to Grow PracticalThe author reports no conflicts of interest.In "Philosophy's role in theorizing psychopathology," Gibson presents a defense of the continued relevance of philosophy to psychopathology, and a non-exhaustive framework for the role of philosophy in this domain (Gibson, 2024). I find it hard to disagree that psychopathology is soaked in philosophy from its origins, and that to try (...) and dry it out would be both unwise and impossible.In this commentary, I go back to Karl Jaspers' account of the role of philosophy in his General Psychopathology. In doing so, I do not find that Gibson adds anything new, but instead gives us a well-illustrated reminder that philosophy "is operative within every living science" (Jaspers, 1997, p. 770).Situated Psychopathological TheorizingGibson addresses a broad 'we' who might be engaged with psychopathological theorizing. This seems to encompass three main settings, from which examples are drawn.1. Everyday and regulative social practices (ordinary and legal setting).2. Empirically driven disciplines which work with psychopathological constructs (academic setting).3. Psychiatry and psychotherapy (clinical setting).In my view, it is a mistake not to map the terrain where psychopathological theorizing is situated. In each setting psychopathological theorizing has its own set of aims and constraints. In the ordinary setting, the aim might be to know whether to blame a loved one for their action. In the legal setting it might be to decide whether treatment or punishment is appropriate. In the clinical setting, the aim is usually a therapeutic assessment, and moral stance taking is often best kept at bay. In the academic setting, we might want to ensure our concepts are reliable and valid, opening them up to investigation using objective scientific methods. [End Page 13]Beyond what can be said in the most general terms, the role of philosophy will look different in these different situations.Understanding Is Not (Just) a Philosophical ToolUnderstanding is a mode of knowing that is concerned with the particular, rather than the general, and accessed inter-relationally, relying on tacit knowledge and empathetic imagination. Gibson introduces the concept as an elementary form of social intuition, used in ordinary life to make sense of social relations and other people's behaviors and reactions. I agree with Gibson, drawing on Strawson, that Understanding is a mode of knowledge that involves the subject of enquiry as a participant (Strawson, 1982). There is a moral imperative to take this stance, which drives us to value the expansion of what we are able to understand of other people's mental states. This at least partly motivates the agenda when we theorize about psychopathology.At times throughout his argument, Gibson seems to be arguing for the role of Understanding in psychopathological theorizing, in place of his explicit aim of arguing for the role of philosophy. However it is not at all clear that this replacement can be made. Accepting the picture drawn, Understanding is not any more the expertise or domain of the philosopher than the author, police officer, or sociologist. We are surely not meant to take Understanding as a uniquely philosophical tool, but rather a mode of knowing available to all social agents, integral to social reasoning in ordinary life and in the human studies.What philosophy can distinctively do is point to and defend the existence of forms of intersubjective and tacit knowledge within human studies such as psychopathology. For Jaspers, Understanding can be a scientific tool, albeit one that reminds us that knowledge in psychopathology is not all of one kind. One role for philosophy therefore is to help us to "distinguish the different modes of knowing," so that we might "order knowledge into a comprehensive whole" (Jaspers, 1997, p. 769). This is akin to the 'synthetic' role that Gibson proposes.Philosophy and ScienceJaspers defines scientific knowledge broadly as knowledge with "general validity, convincing insights (which can be proved), clarity of method, and the possibility for a meaningful discussion" (Jaspers, 1997, p. 768).We do not get such a definition from Gibson, but in the sections of... (shrink)

Bioethics scholarship considering the possibility of gestating an embryo to full term in an artificial womb (ectogenesis) often overstates the capacities of current technologies and underestimates the barriers to the development of full ectogenesis. Moreover, this debate causes harm by (1) neglecting more immediate problems in the development of artificial wombs, (2) treating abortion as a “problem with a technological solution,” bolstering anti-abortion rhetoric, and (3) presuming the stability of women’s reproductive rights. The ectogenesis conversation must consider anticipated uses of (...) the technology (neonatal intensive care) and acknowledge the immediate context (recognizing abortion as essential healthcare and existing reproductive inequities). (shrink)

Focusing on imagination and the social context in the generation of conviction narratives, we propose that these elements are dynamically related to one another, and crucially that it is the nature of this relationship that determines individuals' level of epistemic openness and capacity to respond adaptively to update their narratives in a way that increases the possibility of more successful decision-making.

Psychiatric diagnoses are increasingly seen as viable categories around which self and social identities might be drawn. This introduces a new pressure on the “boundary problem” for psychiatry: when members of the public request diagnoses to affirm their self-identities how should we draw the line between mental disorder and normality? If psychiatrists have the authority to recognize and diagnose mental disorder, how can roles as diagnosers and gate-keepers be balanced in a post-stigma era of mental health care? Focusing on the (...) disorder identified would-be patient who would not attract the diagnosis they seek were they not to seek it, this essay explores what it means to have an identity bound to a psychiatric diagnosis and considers a framework for psychiatrists to negotiate clinical encounters that involve the seeking of identity affirming diagnoses. (shrink)

There has long been interest in why languages are shaped the way they are, and in the relationship between sign language and gesture. In sign languages, entity classifiers are handshapes that encode how objects move, how they are located relative to one another, and how multiple objects of the same type are distributed in space. Previous studies have shown that hearing adults who are asked to use only manual gestures to describe how objects move in space will use gestures that (...) bear some similarities to classifiers. We investigated how accurately hearing adults, who had been learning British Sign Language for 1–3 years, produce and comprehend classifiers in locative and distributive constructions. In a production task, learners of BSL knew that they could use their hands to represent objects, but they had difficulty choosing the same, conventionalized, handshapes as native signers. They were, however, highly accurate at encoding location and orientation information. Learners therefore show the same pattern found in sign-naïve gesturers. In contrast, handshape, orientation, and location were comprehended with equal accuracy, and testing a group of sign-naïve adults showed that they too were able to understand classifiers with higher than chance accuracy. We conclude that adult learners of BSL bring their visuo-spatial knowledge and gestural abilities to the tasks of understanding and producing constructions that contain entity classifiers. We speculate that investigating the time course of adult sign language acquisition might shed light on how gesture became conventionalized during the genesis of sign languages. (shrink)

This paper begins with a recognition that questions of climate change, environmental degradation, and our relations to the natural world are increasingly significant and requiring of a response not only as philosophers of education but also as citizens of the planet. As such the paper explores five of the key journals in philosophy of education in order to identify the extent, range, and content of current discussions related to the environment. It then organizes and summaries the articles that were located (...) while seeking to identify the extent, possibilities, and limitations of current discussions relating to the environment in the philosophy of education community. The hope is that ultimately this work is an invitation to anyone, regardless of tradition, orientation, and expertise, to contribute to the expansion and deepening of both theory and practice in the face of this most serious of challenges. (shrink)

Ratnayake's interesting paper challenges two claims, that cognitive distortions in depression involve epistemic issues; and that cognitive behavioral therapy can rectify those epistemic issues. We are going to discuss both claims here and offer some reasons not to underestimate the epistemic relevance of CBT. First, there may be epistemic issues underlying cognitive distortions in depression that CBT can effectively address, including blind acceptance of negative automatic thoughts and insensitivity to evidence. But, even if CBT were primarily in the business of (...) enhancing utility as opposed to validity, this would have significant, though indirect, epistemic benefits.All human agents, whether they have a... (shrink)

In this short note we prove that a definable set X over is superstable only if.

The system of free expression John Milton defends in Areopagitica, a pamphlet against prior restraint in publishing, is often characterized as merely a proto-liberal, truth-based marketplace of ideas theory. But this represents a misunderstanding of Milton’s views on the freedoms of conscience, speech, and the press. The tendency in political theory, philosophy, and law to reduce the “free speech Milton” to Areopagitica, and the reduction of that essay to several soundbites, has meant sidelining both the significant exceptions to expressive liberties (...) that Milton calls for and also the role of the social in his theory. This incomplete characterization has enabled Milton’s misuse in First Amendment discourse and jurisprudence, where he is made to support hierarchical approaches to free speech that privilege public political speech and are therefore ill-equipped to address the full range of communicative experiences. More comprehensive readings of Milton, however, reveal both certain limits to free expression, and also deep consideration for a wide range of speech acts. By reading Milton’s theory of expressive liberties in light of the justifications he provides for those freedoms—i.e., virtue-building and Truth-seeking—this essay provides a fuller account of his views. What emerges is a distinctly Miltonian, virtue-driven “political theory of everyday talk” that locates value in even the most ordinary communicative acts. This theory—embracing both verbal and nonverbal expression—not only complements existing political theories of the everyday but can also help illuminate contemporary free speech concerns, many of which stem from the libertarian approach to expressive liberties that Milton helped inspire. (shrink)