It is often asserted that, when it comes to taboo topics like race, genes and IQ, scholars should be held to higher evidentiary standards or even censored entirely because of the harm that might result if their findings became widely known. There is held to be an asymmetry whereby the societal costs of discussing certain topics inevitably outweigh any benefits from doing so. This paper argues that no such asymmetry has been empirically demonstrated, and that stifling debate around taboo topics can itself do active harm. To the extent that the paper’s argument has force, it cannot simply be taken for granted that, when in doubt, stifling debate around taboo topics is the ethical thing to do.

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker

––Frederick Douglas, 1860, A Plea for Free Speech in Boston

Carl, N. Evolutionary Psychological Science (2018) 4: 399.