Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: hard-hearted liberalism -- Saint Paul's shudder -- "Evil be thou my good": Milton and abyss-redemption -- Publicity and pain -- Homeopathic machismo in free speech theory -- Social science as public communication -- "Watch, therefore": suffering and the informed citizen -- "Meekness as a dangerous activity": witnessing as participation -- Conclusion: responsibility to things that are not.

Courting the Abyss updates the philosophy of free expression for a world that is very different from the one in which it originated. The notion that a free society should allow Klansmen, neo-Nazis, sundry extremists, and pornographers to spread their doctrines as freely as everyone else has come increasingly under fire. At the same time, in the wake of 9/11, the Right and the Left continue to wage war over the utility of an absolute vision of free speech in a time of increased national security. Courting the Abyss revisits the tangled history of free speech, finding resolutions to these debate.

Description based on print version record.