Professor Lectures on the “Freedom of Listening”

Recently, Professor Lewis Hyde visited the Boston College campus to discuss the benefits of public discourse and collective thinking in a lecture entitled “Freedom of Listening.” A poet, essayist, translator, and cultural critic, Hyde has produced much insightful writing to be commended, including his famous book The Gift that was published in 1983.

Deservedly, Professor Hyde was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1991. He now serves as the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College and is currently exploring the notion of our “cultural commons” in his newest work in progress.

Clearly a tremendous listener himself, Hyde enlivened his lecture with numerous quotes, ideas, and experiences of great thinkers, past and present. After reiterating a few quotes that address the importance of listening, Hyde inquired of the audience, “What does it mean to listen to someone else?”

He disclosed that, lately, he has been thinking of Benjamin Franklin, the individual that Americans perceive as “self-made” and “self-taught.” However, Hyde reminded us that Franklin was very social and had many teachers, one of which was Isaac Newton, whose ideas enabled Franklin uncover the mystery of electricity. In citing the details of Benjamin Franklin’s brilliant accomplishments, Hyde asserted that we are neither only unique beings nor only collective beings. In fact, we are “simultaneously these things.”

Hyde then introduced the idea of “agonism” as an alternative to antagonism. Whereas antagonism pits enemies against one another and forces the strong to destroy the weak, agonism welcomes healthy, aloud conflict among equals. He explained that in the early years of our nation, people of certain colonies were forbidden to print a newspaper without the approval of authority, a perfect example of how antagonism silences the opinions of the weaker thinker.

Moreover, Hyde revealed that it was originally illegal to publish details of the proceedings of the legislatures in the early colonies, illustrating the reluctance of the government to allow public view of the discussions, disagreements, and debates that ultimately led to the governmental decisions.

Our society, however, has shifted its ideals to welcome and encourage fair, public discourse. According to Professor Hyde, Benjamin Franklin propelled this movement toward “agonistic pluralism” with his establishment of a lecture hall in Pennsylvania that was both “dedicated to freedom of speech” and “freedom of listening.” Hyde maintained that the hall embodied the 18^th century ideal of the replacement of the individual self with the collective self.

Proposing a modern example of the “art of listening,” Hyde described actress Anna Deavere Smith’s performance piece on the 1991 Crown Heights Riot. By entering the New York community, taping her conversations with 26 African Americans and Jews involved in the conflict, and bringing their voices to life in her single performance, Smith “let these people inhabit herself” and became a true collective being. The actress’s success in understanding and portraying numerous individuals so different from herself stemmed completely from her ability to listen to other voices.

Returning to his historical discourse, Professor Hyde introduced the audience to the 18^th century ideal of civic republicanism that asserts that autonomy is important because it enables individuals to be “free to serve the common good.” After the germination of this principle, people began to acknowledge the significance of the “public self.”

Additionally, the idea of civic republicanism prompted much anti-individualist literature; pamphlets encouraging anti-individual thought were published without names or with pseudonyms, illustrating the “gesture of self erasure.” In a way, a new style of literature was born, one whose works frequently included the phrase “I’m not here to talk about myself.”

Hyde also credited the 18^th century political idea of divided sovereignty for society’s acceptance of public discourse between equal individuals. Defining divided sovereignty as the notion that no one person has absolute control and leaders are meant to engage in open conversation with others, Hyde upheld the division of power against itself as a way to promote agonism.

In his conclusion, Professor Hyde argued that we should hear other voices than our own and allow differing viewpoints to consort with one another. Linking “free association” to democratic practice, Hyde affirmed that democracy does not only involve free speech but is free speech. Furthermore, Hyde stressed that “entertained contradiction might lead someplace”—a “door might open,” a “new world might appear”—and that the freedom of speech and listening are vital to the progression of our society.

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