The Pseudo-Invariant Grammar of Free Speech Discourse

Philosophics — Philosophical and Political Ramblings · May 6, 2026 · 5m

This paper by language philosopher Bry Willis critiques liberal free speech discourse by arguing that its foundational concept, freedom, is treated as a stable fact when it is actually a subjective and contested term. The author introduces the concept of the pseudo-invariant to describe how institutions pretend this vocabulary is settled to avoid the structural collapse of their legal frameworks. By prioritising the rights of the speaker over the harms felt by the listener, traditional doctrine ignores how modern, industrialised communication functions more like environmental pollution than a…