Talk:Marketplace of ideas

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While Holmes may have been the first person to use the terminology of the market to describe this concept, the notion of a free marketplace of ideas was expressed and developed in John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" in 1869, particularly in "Chapter II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion." It is available here: http://www.bartleby.com/130/2.html Schol4r 16:16, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Market place of Ideas

First, that someone would credit such an important idea to "Big Bird" is in and of itself absurd. First of all, "Big Bird" is a fictional character played by a person. So even if he did state the quote attributed to him by the Wikipedia contributor, someone else wrote it. Moreover, I wonder if the 4-9 year olds who watch Big Bird would have had any idea what he was talking about?!

As my scholarly predecessor has noted the idea has both recent and ancient roots. Richard Hofstadter (1955) rightly points out that the idea can be traced to Socrates and Aristotle. The Socratic Method is the pedagogical embodiment of the "Marketplace of Ideas." In the modern era,in addition to Mills, Thomas Jefferson, in reference to the University of Virginia stated,"This institution will be based upon the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."

Interestingly, Justice Holmes (1919), who is usually given credit for the concept, never used the term. Granted, he implied the idea in his dissenting opinion in Abrams v. U S , 250 U.S. 616 (1919). Nonetheless, you will not find the term "Marketplace of ideas" in his decision. The term came into use when it was tied to the concept of academic freedom in the years following Holme's opinion.

Just wanting to point out that the claim for first (verbatim) usage is incorrect: Edwin Emery uses the term in the foreword to the second edition of "The Press and America", published in 1962. So the 1967 date has to be wrong. I haven't edited because I can't prove that this is the first use. Does anyone have an earlier date? (121.210.0.192 (talk) 21:27, 4 May 2008 (UTC))