Free Speech and the Advancement of Knowledge: The Interpretation, Reception, and Cultural Relevance of Milton’s Areopagitica

• Applicant: Dr. Thomas Matthew Vozar
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies
• Term: Funded in 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 542828363

Milton’s Areopagitica (1644) has long been revered as an early argument for freedom of expression and has been invoked by legal bodies ranging from the Supreme Court of the United States to the European Court of Human Rights. Milton’s status as a proto-liberal defender of free speech is nevertheless more problematic than is sometimes supposed, not least because his conception of religious tolerance did not extend to Catholicism, and despite its venerable reputation some basic aspects of Areopagitica remain unclear. The objectives of this research are (1) to critically reexamine the interpretation of Areopagitica in the context of early modern intellectual history, and particularly in light of the concept of libertas philosophandi (“liberty of philosophizing”); (2) to produce a global historical account of the reception of Areopagitica from the late seventeenth century to the present; and (3) to explore the relevance of Areopagitica to twenty-first-century concerns about free speech.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants