Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by developing knowledge, concepts, theories and assessing them in the given environment. This cognitive proficiency gives a sense of contentment and replaces the feeling of helplessness. Apart from bringing ease to the ego of a person, new knowledge and ideas also bring a hope for the future.[1]
Freedom of thought is the precursor and progenitor of—and thus is closely linked to—other liberties, includingfreedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression.[2] Though freedom of thought is axiomatic for many other freedoms, they are in no way required for it to operate and exist. The conception of a freedom or a right does not guarantee its inclusion, legality, or protection via a philosophical caveat. It is a very important concept in the Western world and nearly all democratic constitutions protect these freedoms.
Freedom of thought... is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. With rare aberrations a pervasive recognition of this truth can be traced in our history, political and legal.[3]
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
TheUnited Nations'Human Rights Committee states that this "distinguishes the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief from the freedom to manifest religion or belief. It does not permit any limitations whatsoever on the freedom of thought and conscience or on the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of one's choice. These freedoms are protected unconditionally".[4] Similarly, Article 19 of the UDHR guarantees that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference".
It is impossible to know with certainty what another person is thinking, making suppression difficult. The concept is developed throughout the Bible, most fully in the writings ofSaul of Tarsus (e.g., "For why should my freedom [eleutheria] be judged by another's conscience [suneideseos]?"1 Corinthians 10:29).[6]
Queen Elizabeth I revoked a thought censorship law in the late sixteenth century, because, according to SirFrancis Bacon, she did "not [like] to make windows into men's souls and secret thoughts".[9] During her reign, however, a number of books published by theoristGiordano Bruno spurred controversy, mentioning topics banned by the Catholic Church such as the possibility of an infinite universe. Unwilling to recant these ideas, Bruno was eventuallyburned as aheretic in Rome by theItalian Inquisition, in turn becoming a martyr for free thought.[10]
Oliver Cromwell is described byIgnaz von Döllinger as "the first among the mighty men of the world to set up one special religious principle, and to enforce it so far as in him lay: ... The principle of liberty of conscience and the repudiation of religious coercion".[11]
However,freedom of expression can be limited throughcensorship, arrests,book burning, orpropaganda, and this tends to discourage freedom of thought. Examples of effective campaigns against freedom of expression are the Soviet suppression of genetics research in favor of a theory known asLysenkoism, the book-burning campaigns ofNazi Germany, the radicalanti-intellectualism enforced in Cambodia underPol Pot and in Nazi Germany underAdolf Hitler, the strict limits on freedom of expression imposed by theCommunist governments of the People's Republic of China and Cuba or byCapitalist dictatorships such as those ofAugusto Pinochet in Chile andFrancisco Franco in Spain.
TheSapir–Whorf hypothesis, which states thatthought can be embedded inlanguage, would support the claim that an effort to limit the use of words of language is actually a form of restricting freedom of thought.[citation needed] This was explored inGeorge Orwell's novel1984, with the idea ofNewspeak, a stripped-down form of theEnglish language alleged to lack the capacity for metaphor and limiting expression of original ideas.
More recently,neuroimaging technology has raised concerns about entities possibly reading and subsequently suppressing thought. These concerns form the emerging fields ofneuroethics andneuroprivacy.[citation needed]
^Eugene J. Cooper, "Man's Basic Freedom and Freedom of Conscience in the Bible : Reflections on 1 Corinthians 8–10",Irish Theological Quarterly Dec 1975
D.V. Coornhert,Synod on the Freedom of Conscience: A Thorough Examination during the Gathering Held in the Year 1582 in the City of FreetownEnglish translation
Richard Joseph Cooke,Freedom of thought in religious teaching (1913)
Lucas Swaine, "Freedom of Thought as a Basic Liberty,"Political Theory, 46:3 (2018): 405–425.doi:10.1177/0090591716676293
Eugene J. Cooper, "Man's Basic Freedom and Freedom of Conscience in the Bible : Reflections on 1 Corinthians 8–10",Irish Theological Quarterly Dec 1975
George Botterill and Peter Carruthers, 'The Philosophy of Psychology', Cambridge University Press (1999), p. 3
The Hon. Sir John Laws, 'The Limitations of Human Rights', [1998] P. L. Summer, Sweet & Maxwell and Contributors, p. 260
Voltaire (1954). "Liberté de penser".Dictionnaire philosophique. Classiques Garnier (in French). Paris: Éditions Garnier. pp. 277–81.
