| abstract | - The "marketplace of ideas" is a rationale for freedom of expression based on an analogy to the economic concept of a free market. The "marketplace of ideas" belief holds that the truth or the best policy arises out of the competition of widely various ideas in free, transparent public discourse, an important part of liberal democracy. The concept of the "marketplace of ideas" is most often attributed to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s dissenting opinion in Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616 (1919). Interestingly, while Justice Holmes (1919) implied the idea in his dissenting opinion, he never used the term. Holmes (1919) stated: Image:Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr circa 1930.jpg The actual term "marketplace of ideas" was first used in the 1967 Supreme Court decision, Keyishian v. Board of Regents in which the the Court stated that "The classroom is peculiarly the "marketplace of ideas." Despite these rulings, the concept of the classroom as the "marketplace of ideas" was not born in the twentieth century. As Richard Hofstadter and Walter Metzger (1955) have rightly pointed out, the concept has ancient and nineteenth century roots. The idea can be traced to Socrates and Aristotle. The Socratic Method is the pedagogical embodiment of the "Marketplace of Ideas." In the modern era, John Stuart Mill (On Liberty, 1859) and Thomas Jefferson, provided their own explication of the "marketplace of ideas." Making reference to the University of Virginia Jefferson said, "This institution will be based upon the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it" (Letter, Jefferson to William Roscoe, 1820). More recently the term has come into use by educators in higher education who have linked the concept to academic freedom.
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