Typically, philosophical defenses of free speech are consequentialist in nature, adverting to the good effects of a free marketplace of ideas or the role of free speech in democratic government. Less frequently, free speech is defended in terms of the connection between this particular liberty and individual autonomy. These approaches have their attractions — and weaknesses. In this paper, I develop an alternative defense that focuses on what it is about speech itself that makes it worthy of stringent protections.

The concept of Stimmung – attunement or mood – is a key notion in Heidegger's existential ontology as this is articulated in Sein und Zeit. Not only does it designate a significant aspect of human existence, which Heidegger portrays as “tuned” throughout its different comportments; it also plays a decisive role as a methodological step within the course of the ontological analysis. Only through the cultivation of specific moods can the route to a qualified philosophical contemplation be accessed. Throughout his life Heidegger remained a devoted reader of Aristotle, who plays a particularly important role during the early twenties when the existential analytic is developed. This background is one important key to understanding the philosophical implications of Heidegger's analysis of Stimmung. In the end this theme also invites us to distinguish in very broad terms how the relation between passion and reason has been articulated in Greek and Christian thinking respectively. Against the background of such a general account, it is my purpose here to situate Heidegger's analysis of Stimmung in a context in which it can hopefully both be better appreciated and critically assessed.

Article Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller & Jeffrey Paul. The Welfare State edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller & Jeffrey Paul, Cambridge University Press 1997, 292 sider was published on November 1, 2000 in the journal SATS (volume 1, issue 2).