ABSTRACT
To speak in a more obviously political manner, there is a connection between self-restraint and shame, and therefore a connection between shame and self-government or democracy. The principle of modern democracy is the natural equality of all men, and the problem was to find some way of preventing this principle from becoming all-pervasive, and especially from invading the arts and sciences themselves. The call for a “sophisticated critical judgment” is merely a variation on the general call for education, which libertarians have customarily offered as an alternative to the policy of forbidding or punishing speech. It is an attractive alternative, attractive because of its consistency with liberal principles, as well as for its avoidance of the difficulties accompanying a policy of censorship; unfortunately, given the present intellectual climate, education in this area is almost impossible.
