HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARYOF MODERN KNOWLEDGE

No. 69

Editors:

HERBERT FISHER, M.A., F.B.A.
Prof. GILBERT MURRAY, Litt.D., LL.D., F.B.A.
Prof. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A.
Prof. WILLIAM T. BREWSTER, M.A.

A HISTORY OF FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

J. B. BURY, M.A., F.B.A

HON. D.LITT. OF OXFORD, DURHAM, AND DUBLIN, AND HON. LL.D. OF EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, AND ABERDEEN UNIVERSITIES; REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

AUTHOR OF “HISTORY OF THE LATTER ROMAN EMPIRE,” “HISTORY OF GREECE,” “HISTORY OF THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE,” ETC.

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THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

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CHAP.
I	Introductory
II	Reason Free (Greece And Rome)
III	Reason in Prison (The Middle Ages)
IV	Prospect of Deliverance (The Renaissance and the Reformation)
V	Religious Toleration
VI	The Growth of Rationalism (Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries)
VII	The Progress of Rationalism (Nineteenth Century)
VIII	The Justification of Liberty of Thought
	Bibliography
	Index

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A HISTORY OFFREEDOM OF THOUGHT

CHAPTER I

FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND THE FORCESAGAINST IT

(INTRODUCTORY)

IT is a common saying that thought is free.A man can never be hindered from thinkingwhatever he chooses so long as he concealswhat he thinks. The working of his mind islimited only by the bounds of his experienceand the power of his imagination. But thisnatural liberty of private thinking is of littlevalue. It is unsatisfactory and even painfulto the thinker himself, if he is not permitted tocommunicate his thoughts to others, and itis obviously of no value to his neighbours.Moreover it is extremely difficult to hidethoughts that have any power over themind. If a man’s thinking leads him to callin question ideas and customs which regulatethe behaviour of those about him, to rejectbeliefs which they hold, to see better ways oflife than those they follow, it is almost[8]impossible for him, if he is convinced of thetruth of his own reasoning, not to betrayby silence, chance words, or general attitudethat he is different from them and does notshare their opinions. Some have preferred,like Socrates, some would prefer to-day, toface death rather than conceal their thoughts.Thus freedom of thought, in any valuablesense, includes freedom of speech.

At present, in the most civilized countries,

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