弥尔顿的自由表达观的世俗现代意义

Milton's Freedom of Expression and a Secular, Modern Perspective

批评者质疑,弥尔顿在《论出版自由》中使用的言论自由言辞只是在表面上与我们今天所理解的自由主义观相似,因为弥尔顿的言论自由因其特定历史和宗教背景与所谓现代“开放社会”的言论自由并无共通之点。但是,如果将历史的弥尔顿与其理论实质特点拉开距离,我们可以发现其神学色彩浓厚的言论自由观与世俗现代言论自由观的关系,也从一个角度回应对其理论价值的质疑。

Commentators easily see some glaring incongruity between Milton's freedom of expression in his Areopagitica and modern libertarianism despite a semblance of rhetoric. However, by distancing the historical Milton from some core messages in the text, we may rediscover his relevance to the modern, secular approach to freedom and give due credit to some of his central concerns, coded in religious terms, over the free-reasoning mind and arbitrary external control-concerns shared by his modern libertarian successors.