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Decorum

Decorum, derived from the Latin decorum (neuter of decōrus, meaning "proper" or "fitting"), denotes the principle of propriety whereby behavior, speech, or artistic expression conforms appropriately to the circumstances, audience, subject, and purpose at hand.^[1]^[2] This concept emphasizes harmony between form and content, ensuring that what is said or done aligns with what is seemly or suitable in a given context. In classical rhetoric, decorum served as a foundational canon, as elaborated by Cicero in works like De Oratore and De Officiis, where it prescribed the fitting match of style—grand, middle, or plain—to the rhetorical situation and ethical demands, thereby elevating persuasion through moral and aesthetic coherence.^[3]^[4] Horace extended this to poetics in his Ars Poetica, advocating that characters and actions in literature maintain consistency with their nature and social station to achieve verisimilitude and enduring impact.^[5]^[6] Beyond rhetoric and aesthetics, decorum has informed ethical philosophy and social norms, establishing standards for civil conduct that preserve order and mutual respect, as seen in historical treatises on manners linking propriety to communal stability.^[7] Its defining characteristic lies in adaptability rather than rigid rule-following, requiring discernment of the kairos—the opportune moment—to apply fitting measures, a nuance Cicero contrasted with mere conformity to avert manipulation or discord.^[8]

Etymology and Historical Development

Origins in Classical Antiquity

The Latin term decorum, denoting propriety or that which is fitting, derives from decorus ("proper, seemly"), the adjective form rooted in decor ("beauty, elegance, ornament").^[1] This concept emerged in classical rhetoric as a foundational principle of appropriateness in discourse and conduct, with Greek antecedents in Aristotle's Rhetoric (c. 350 BCE), where to prepon—the fitting or suitable—governs stylistic choices to match the speaker, audience, subject, and occasion, thereby enhancing persuasive force and avoiding discord. Aristotle posited that mismatched expression undermines ethos and effectiveness, establishing decorum as essential for rhetorical success in civic assemblies and deliberations.^[9] Roman adaptation elevated decorum to an ethical imperative. In De Oratore (55 BCE), Cicero portrayed it as the harmony between an orator's words, gestures, and context, integral to moral virtue and public influence; deviation invites suspicion or ridicule, eroding communal trust.^[10] He contended that true eloquence demands observing decorum to align personal dignity with societal expectations, fostering stability by channeling potentially disruptive passions into ordered persuasion.^[3] Horace's Ars Poetica (c. 19 BCE) extended decorum to literary composition, mandating consistency in portraying characters' age, status, and emotions through apt diction and action, lest incongruity fracture the work's unity and verisimilitude.^[11] This prescriptive unity mirrored broader Roman imperatives for behavioral restraint, where propriety in expression—whether oratorical or poetic—functioned causally to avert social chaos by enforcing norms that preserved hierarchical order and collective harmony in the polity.^[12] In practice, such adherence underpinned the republic's deliberative processes, mitigating factional strife through disciplined public intercourse.^[5]

Evolution Through Medieval and Renaissance Periods

In the medieval period, classical notions of decorum, emphasizing stylistic and behavioral fitness to context, were integrated into Christian theology and social practices, shifting emphasis toward moral and divine propriety over pagan aesthetics. Scholastic thinkers subordinated decorum to virtue ethics, viewing it as aligned with natural law and hierarchical order under God, where behaviors and expressions must conform to one's station to reflect cosmic harmony. This adaptation is evident in conduct literature, such as vernacular guides from 12th- to 15th-century England, France, and Germany, which prescribed class-specific manners—e.g., deferential postures for peasants versus refined speech for nobility—to reinforce feudal structures and prevent social disruption amid economic transitions like the rise of towns.^[13]^[14] These texts, often disseminated through devotional and courtesy poems, causally supported stability by inculcating behaviors that mirrored divine hierarchy, reducing conflicts from status ambiguity in a period of manorial decline and emerging markets.^[15] The Renaissance marked a humanistic revival of decorum, blending classical principles with Christian ethics to emphasize effortless propriety in elite conduct and arts. Desiderius Erasmus's De Civilitate Morum Puerilium (1530), a seminal etiquette manual for youth, drew on rhetorical decorum to advocate refined bodily and verbal habits—such as proper table postures and modest speech—tailored to social rank, influencing courtly and bourgeois norms across Europe.^[16] Similarly, Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier (1528) codified decorum as sprezzatura, the art of performing accomplishments with nonchalance to conceal effort, thereby upholding aristocratic hierarchies in Italian princely courts while adapting ancient ideals to Christian virtue.^[17] In visual arts, Leon Battista Alberti's Della Pittura (1435) applied decorum to narrative composition, insisting on proportional and expressive fitness—e.g., dignified poses for heroic figures—to evoke moral truths, linking artistic representation to social and ethical order.^[18] This revival causally preserved hierarchies by promoting behaviors and depictions that naturalized inequality as aesthetically and morally fitting, countering egalitarian pressures from Renaissance commerce and exploration.^[19]

Decorum in Rhetoric and Literature

Core Principles in Classical Rhetoric

In classical rhetoric, decorum refers to the principle of propriety, ensuring that the style, diction, and delivery of a speech align with the subject matter, the speaker's character (ethos), the audience's disposition (pathos), and the specific circumstances of the discourse. Aristotle outlined this as to prepon, or rhetorical appropriateness, emphasizing that effective persuasion requires linguistic choices that express emotion and character fittingly to avoid discordance. Cicero, in De Oratore, expanded on this by defining decorum as the fitting match between words, actions, and the rhetorical situation, arguing that it sustains the orator's credibility and persuasive force. Quintilian, in Institutio Oratoria, integrated decorum into delivery (actio), stressing that voice, gesture, and tone must harmonize with the content to maintain audience engagement without excess or deficiency.^[20] Decorum encompasses verbal elements such as diction and tone, behavioral aspects like gestures and posture, and an ethical dimension rooted in truth-aligned propriety, where stylistic choices reflect moral consistency to bolster the speaker's authority. Cicero contended that violations of decorum erode ethos, as mismatched grandeur or undue plainness signals insincerity or incompetence, thereby alienating listeners and diminishing argumentative impact regardless of substantive merit. This framework prioritizes causal effectiveness in persuasion: by tailoring elements to context, orators mitigate audience resistance, as empirical failures in ancient orations demonstrate—speakers who ignored situational fit often forfeited influence despite logical rigor.^[21]^[3] Historical instances underscore decorum's pragmatic utility, as seen in Roman Senate debates where breaches led to persuasive defeats. In Cicero's Catilinarian Orations of 63 BCE, he leveraged decorum by modulating tone and appeals to expose Catiline's conspiratorial indecorum—his defiant posture and inflammatory rhetoric—contrasting it with senatorial gravity to rally support for suppression, illustrating how propriety amplifies causal sway over raw ideology. Similarly, Demosthenes refined his delivery through rigorous practice, adapting vehement style for Philippics against Macedonian threats while tempering it for judicial contexts, averting alienation and securing Athenian resolve in the 4th century BCE. These cases affirm that decorum functions as a strategic adaptation, empirically validated by oratorical successes tied to contextual harmony rather than unyielding content.^[22]^[23]^[24]

Applications in Poetry and Literary Style

In Horace's Ars Poetica (c. 19 BCE), decorum serves as a foundational guideline for poetic structure, mandating that characters' dialogue and behaviors align precisely with their age, social standing, and disposition to uphold verisimilitude and thematic unity.^[25] He illustrates this through directives such as lines 114–118, where speech must suit a character's origin and role—whether divine, heroic, or mortal—and lines 153–188, which delineate age-appropriate traits: youths as impulsive and spirited, mature figures as prudent yet ambitious, and elders as querulous and risk-averse, preventing implausible inconsistencies that fracture narrative flow.^[25] Neoclassical writers in the 17th and 18th centuries rigorously applied Horatian decorum to literary style, prioritizing hierarchical propriety and moral coherence over unmediated depictions of vice or vulgarity, as seen in John Dryden's critical essays and Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism (1711).^[26] Dryden, in works like his Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668), invoked decorum to advocate for stylistic elevation matching subject gravity, critiquing raw realism as disruptive to ordered representation.^[27] Pope extended this by demanding expressive harmony—plain diction for commonsense truths, ornate for grandeur—thus reinforcing decorum as a bulwark against conceits that obscure ethical clarity.^[28] Romantic poets deliberately contravened these strictures to pursue emotional authenticity, exemplified by William Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800), where he elevated rustic peasants' plain speech to poetic register, rejecting neoclassical mandates for lofty diction in sublime themes.^[29] This breach, intended to mirror spontaneous human feeling, yielded works of vivid immediacy but drew contemporary charges of incoherence, as commonplace vernacular clashed with aspirational form, diverging from decorum's insistence on scaled appropriateness.^[29] Decorum's causal role in forging cohesive narratives is evident in the endurance of classics like Virgil's Aeneid (19 BCE) and Pope's ordered satires, which integrate character, theme, and meter into seamless wholes, outperforming fragmented modernist experiments—such as stream-of-consciousness streams in James Joyce's Ulysses (1922)—where abandoned propriety often sacrifices intelligibility for innovation.^[30] Empirical literary reception supports this: decorum-adherent texts sustain broader interpretive unity, as quantified in canonical persistence metrics from surveys of enduring works, versus the niche appeal of rule-defying avant-garde forms.^[30]

Decorum in Performing Arts

Historical Role in Theatre and Drama

In Aristotle's Poetics (c. 335 BCE), decorum functioned as a principle of propriety in tragedy, requiring characters to speak and act in ways consistent with their social status, moral character, and the genre's elevated tone to preserve plausibility and emotional impact.^[31] This included adherence to the unity of action—ensuring a single, coherent plot without extraneous episodes—to avoid disrupting audience belief and the purgation of pity and fear known as catharsis.^[32] Violations of decorum, such as implausible shifts in character behavior, risked alienating viewers by inducing disbelief or revulsion, thereby undermining the causal mechanism linking dramatic representation to moral instruction and emotional release.^[33] Neoclassical dramatists in 17th-century France intensified these constraints, deriving the three unities of time (events within 24 hours), place (single location), and action from interpretations of Aristotle to enforce strict decorum and immersion.^[34] Playwright Pierre Corneille's Le Cid (1637) ignited debates via the "Quarrel of Le Cid," where critics like Cardinal Richelieu's circle condemned perceived breaches, such as extended timelines and onstage emotional excesses, insisting on offstage depiction of violence to prevent spectacle from overwhelming moral edification.^[35] This approach causally preserved audience gravity, as onstage gore or indecorous acts could shatter illusion, evidenced by the era's preference for narrated horrors over direct representation to sustain tragic dignity.^[36] Elizabethan theatre, exemplified by Shakespeare (c. 1590s–1610s), adapted decorum more flexibly within tragedy, generally upholding character consistency for gravity—nobles employing elevated rhetoric—while occasionally subverting it for ironic effect, as in kings adopting base speech to highlight folly, without fully eroding immersion.^[37] Shakespeare's disregard for strict unities allowed multifaceted plots, yet decorum's core role persisted in aligning diction to status, preventing revulsion and facilitating catharsis; breaches, like gratuitous vulgarity, were rare to avoid audience disengagement, as seen in the comparative success of his structured tragedies over looser contemporaries.^[38] By the 19th century, realist playwrights like Henrik Ibsen challenged decorum's representational limits, prioritizing unvarnished social truths over propriety; Ghosts (1881) depicted taboo subjects such as inherited syphilis onstage, provoking outrage for indecency and prompting bans in multiple countries due to perceived moral violation.^[39] This shift revealed tensions: while neoclassical decorum shielded audiences from discomfort to enable reflection, realism's directness aimed at critique but risked flops or riots from revulsion, as initial receptions of Ibsen's works demonstrated audience resistance to breached illusions favoring empirical exposure.^[40]

Extensions to Modern Performance Practices

In the 20th century, avant-garde theatre movements, exemplified by Bertolt Brecht's development of the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) in the 1930s, deliberately rejected traditional decorum's emphasis on emotional immersion and cathartic empathy to provoke critical detachment and political awareness.^[41] Brecht's epic theatre techniques, such as direct audience address and visible staging artifices, disrupted the illusion of reality, prioritizing intellectual analysis over propriety-bound narrative flow in works like Mother Courage and Her Children (1941).^[42] While influential in fostering active spectatorship, these anti-decorous approaches yielded mixed audience reception, with Brechtian productions often achieving critical acclaim but limited broad commercial viability compared to revivals of decorum-adherent classical dramas, which sustained higher attendance through familiar emotional engagement.^[43] In cinema, the Motion Picture Production Code, known as the Hays Code and enforced from 1934 to 1968, extended decorum by mandating moral restraint in portrayals of sexuality, violence, and irreverence, ensuring films aligned with prevailing social proprieties to appeal to family viewers.^[44] This self-censorship framework correlated with Hollywood's Golden Age, where annual U.S. theatre attendance peaked at over 90 million weekly in the late 1930s and 1940s, drawing diverse demographics including children and conservatives who valued consistent ethical depictions.^[45] Post-1968 abandonment for the ratings system enabled greater transgression, yet empirical trends show pre-Code-era stability in mass audiences, with decorum-enforced films outperforming edgier pre-Code experiments in sustained profitability amid public backlash.^[46] Contemporary performance practices, such as Punchdrunk's Sleep No More (New York premiere 2011, ongoing), adapt decorum in immersive theatre by permitting audience exploration of multi-room sets and performer proximity, while imposing boundaries like mandatory masks, silence, and no-touch rules to preserve performer safety and narrative integrity.^[47] Environment-behavior analyses reveal heightened engagement—manifest in repeat visits and self-directed storytelling—when these proprieties are maintained, as violations disrupt the controlled ambiguity essential to the experience's appeal, contrasting with less structured formats that risk audience disorientation.^[48] Blockbuster franchises demonstrate decorum's persistence through archetypal heroic consistency and moral clarity, as in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), whose 33 films since 2008 have grossed over $29 billion worldwide, attributing success to formulaic propriety in character arcs and resolutions that avoid gratuitous transgression.^[49] This contrasts with transgressive works, which, despite critical niches, exhibit lower box-office returns; for instance, MCU entries average 80%+ audience scores on aggregator sites, underscoring broad reception tied to upheld decorous norms over boundary-pushing alternatives.^[50] Social decorum encompasses codified norms of behavior, including respectful forms of address (such as using titles or honorifics), restraint in expression to avoid provocation, and deference to social hierarchies, all of which promote cooperation by signaling mutual regard and reducing friction in interactions.^[51] These elements trace to evolutionary precursors in primate grooming rituals, where mutual cleaning of fur among chimpanzees and other apes strengthened alliances and mitigated aggression, fostering group stability through affiliative signals.^[52] In human societies, analogous behaviors scaled to larger groups, enabling coordination beyond kin ties. Historical etiquette manuals, such as Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son (composed 1746–1771), prescribed decorum as essential for navigating elite circles, with advice on modulated speech, graceful posture, and context-appropriate deference tailored to class and gender expectations.^[51] Chesterfield emphasized that mastery of these norms facilitated alliances and career advancement, a pattern borne out in 18th-century Britain where adherence to stratified etiquette correlated with access to patronage networks and upward mobility, as individuals from middling backgrounds leveraged polished manners to infiltrate higher strata.^[53] Cross-culturally, greetings exemplify decorum's relativity atop universals: deep bows in Japan convey hierarchical respect and avert dominance disputes, while firm handshakes in Anglo-American contexts affirm equality and peaceful intent by demonstrating unarmed hands.^[54]^[55] Despite surface differences, these practices share a causal role in de-escalating tension, as anthropological data from high-trust societies like historical Quaker communities or modern Scandinavian groups show that ritualized politeness lowers conflict incidence by reinforcing reciprocity norms.^[56] Empirical evidence links robust decorum norms to enhanced social organization and reduced crime: a study of U.S. counties found that higher interpersonal connectedness—manifest in norm-enforced civility—lowered rates of murders by 10–20%, rapes, and assaults by promoting collective vigilance and informal sanctions.^[57] In traditional communities with strong etiquette adherence, such as rural Amish enclaves, these patterns yield homicide rates under 1 per 100,000 annually, far below urban averages exceeding 5 per 100,000, due to decorum's role in sustaining tight-knit oversight.^[58] Yet, decorum's rigidity can impede adaptation in fluid modern settings; organizational analyses indicate that inflexible rule adherence suppresses novel problem-solving, with rigid hierarchies correlating to 15–30% lower innovation outputs in tech sectors compared to flexible counterparts.^[59] This tension arises as codified restraint prioritizes stability over experimentation, potentially hindering breakthroughs in high-velocity economies where informal networks drive progress.^[60]

Decorum in Political and Institutional Settings

In parliamentary systems, decorum enforces structured deliberation to facilitate governance while mitigating personal animosities that could escalate into disorder. The U.S. House of Representatives requires members to address the Speaker respectfully and prohibits disorderly language, with origins tracing to the First Congress in 1789, where rules established decorum in debate to maintain order.^[61] Similarly, the British House of Commons bans unparliamentary language, such as terms like "coward" or "liar," as determined by the Speaker, a practice rooted in longstanding traditions to preserve debate's integrity and prevent defamation.^[62] These rules aim to channel conflicts through procedure rather than confrontation, historically averting physical altercations observed in early legislative bodies. Beyond legislatures, decorum structures institutional proceedings to ensure impartiality and focus. In U.S. courtrooms, protocols mandate professional attire, respectful address to the judge, and restraint from disruptive gestures, underpinning fair trials by fostering an environment where evidence prevails over theatrics.^[63] Corporate settings adopted formalized codes post-Enron scandal in 2001, with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 prompting widespread ethical conduct policies that signal integrity and deter misconduct, as seen in enhanced board oversight and compliance training.^[64] Such measures prioritize substantive decision-making over emotional displays, though enforcement can vary by leadership discretion. Empirical analyses link adherence to decorum with enhanced legislative output; a 2023 study of U.S. state legislatures found higher civility levels correlated with greater bill passage rates and significant policy enactments, suggesting causal effects via reduced interpersonal friction.^[65] Conversely, decorum lapses in 2020s U.S. Congress sessions, amid rising partisanship, have coincided with procedural gridlock and delayed appropriations, exacerbating inefficiencies.^[66] Conservative commentators defend strict decorum as a safeguard against populist disruptions that undermine institutional stability, arguing it tempers raw majoritarianism with reasoned restraint.^[67] Left-leaning critiques, however, portray it as elitist gatekeeping that stifles authentic dissent from underrepresented voices, potentially entrenching incumbents despite evidence of civility's productivity benefits.^[68] Selective application risks suppression, yet data indicate breakdowns more often yield stasis than breakthroughs.

Psychological and Sociological Perspectives

Evolutionary and Cognitive Underpinnings

Decorum emerges from evolutionary pressures favoring behaviors that signal restraint and foster reciprocal cooperation in social groups. Robert Trivers' theory of reciprocal altruism posits that individuals who perform costly acts of restraint, such as deferring aggression despite capability, enhance long-term fitness by building alliances and reducing retaliatory conflicts.^[69] Manners function as such costly signals, demonstrating commitment to mutual benefit over immediate self-interest, as low-cost deceptions undermine trust in repeated interactions.^[70] Cross-species evidence supports this: dominance hierarchies in primates and other mammals enforce deference protocols that minimize intra-group violence, with subordinates yielding to dominants to avert escalated fights, thereby stabilizing resource access and survival rates.^[71]^[72] Cognitively, decorum aligns with neural mechanisms promoting empathy and norm adherence. Mirror neurons, first identified in macaque monkeys and active in humans during observation of others' actions, underpin imitative behaviors that reinforce social propriety by simulating others' restraint and intentions, facilitating empathetic restraint in oneself.^[73] Functional MRI studies reveal that witnessing breaches of etiquette, such as intentional faux pas, activates regions like the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, eliciting discomfort akin to an evolved aversion to norm violations that threaten group cohesion.^[74] These responses, observed across intentional and unintentional infractions, indicate a hardwired sensitivity to impropriety that motivates conformity to decorous standards.^[75] Developmentally, children acquire decorum through observational learning and parental reinforcement, internalizing it as a heuristic for social navigation. Longitudinal data link early social skill training, including polite deference and turn-taking, to enhanced adult cooperation metrics, such as peer acceptance and collaborative success, suggesting decorum's role in building enduring relational capital.^[76]^[77] In truth-seeking contexts, decorum aids discernment by muting emotional reactivity, enabling clearer causal reasoning amid discourse; restrained expression filters impulsive biases, promoting evidence-based exchange over heated confrontation.^[78] However, excessive adherence risks amplifying conformity biases, where individuals suppress dissenting insights to maintain propriety, potentially entrenching group errors over empirical scrutiny.^[79] Decorum promotes social cohesion by imposing collective behavioral standards that guide interactions and reinforce mutual expectations, thereby reducing friction and fostering predictability in group dynamics. Émile Durkheim's framework of social facts describes such norms—including those of propriety—as external coercions that integrate individuals into society, generating mechanical solidarity in traditional settings and organic solidarity in complex ones, while warding off anomie characterized by norm dissolution and resultant deviance.^[80]^[81] Empirical indicators link robust decorum to elevated social functionality; Japan's emphasis on hierarchical politeness and restraint yields lower deviance rates and stronger group obligations relative to the United States, underpinning a society marked by high order and minimal overt conflict despite moderate generalized trust levels.^[82] In comparison, small-scale tribal societies often sustain cohesion through informal kinship-based norms rather than formalized decorum, which limits scalability in larger aggregates and correlates with elevated internal disputes absent structured propriety.^[83] Cultural variations hinge on societal orientations: collectivist systems, as in Confucian East Asia, integrate decorum via li—ritualized propriety that prioritizes relational harmony and deference to maintain equilibrium amid interdependence.^[84] Individualist Western paradigms, conversely, frame decorum as instrumental civility enabling autonomous pursuits, with norms adapting to prioritize minimal interference for cooperative pluralism.^[85] These divergences reflect adaptive responses to group scale and interdependence, where collectivist decorum enforces tighter conformity to avert discord in dense networks. In resource-constrained historical contexts, decorum norms intensified to allocate scarce public goods and enforce reciprocity, as evidenced in urban regulations prioritizing orderly conduct amid limited space.^[86] Yet multicultural expansions introduce dysfunctions through norm incongruities; Robert Putnam's data show U.S. diversity correlating with 10-20% drops in trust, volunteering, and community ties, as residents withdraw amid perceived behavioral mismatches.^[87] European immigrant studies confirm clashes yield integration shortfalls, with cultural origin tolerance predicting 15-30% variances in social embedding and economic parity, versus natives' baselines.^[88]^[89] Post-1960s Western norm relaxation, spurred by individualism's ascendancy, tracks with incivility surges; polls indicate 93% of Americans deem it a persistent crisis, with 85% reporting worsened public conduct since the 1990s, alongside metrics of frayed bonds like diminished civic participation.^[90]^[91] Such patterns, evidenced in stable high-norm regimes outperforming anomic ones in cohesion indices, refute pure relativism by tying decorum's erosion to quantifiable trust deficits and fragmentation, independent of ideological framing.^[92]^[93]

Criticisms, Controversies, and Contemporary Debates

Historical and Philosophical Critiques

In ancient philosophy, Plato critiqued conventional notions of decorum as insufficient when subordinated to the pursuit of truth through dialectic, arguing in The Republic (c. 375 BCE) that guardians' speech and behavior must align with philosophical virtue rather than mere social propriety or mimetic imitation, which he viewed as potentially deceptive conventions detached from the Forms.^[94] This prioritization positioned decorum as a tool for education only insofar as it served rational inquiry, with unchecked adherence to tradition risking the stifling of dialectical progress toward justice and knowledge.^[95] During the Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau condemned courtly decorum as a hypocritical veneer that concealed social inequalities and corrupted natural sentiments, asserting in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1755) that polished manners among the elite fostered artificial dependencies and masked exploitation under the guise of civility. Similarly, Friedrich Nietzsche, in On the Genealogy of Morality (1887), portrayed decorum-infused moral codes as manifestations of "slave morality," where restraint and conformity—rooted in ressentiment—suppressed the noble "will to power" and aristocratic vitality, reducing human potential to herd-like docility.^[96] These views framed decorum not as neutral etiquette but as a mechanism perpetuating weakness by enforcing egalitarian pretenses over authentic strength. Philosophical thought experiments and historical cases further illustrate decorum's potential to impede innovation, as seen in Galileo Galilei's 1633 trial by the Roman Inquisition, where his defiance of deferential norms in advocating heliocentrism clashed with institutional expectations of restraint, arguably delaying empirical advancements despite evidence from his 1610 Sidereus Nuncius observations.^[97] While decorum has historically civilized discourse by curbing excesses, as in moderated medieval disputations, rigid adherence during Scholasticism (c. 1100–1700) contributed to philosophical stagnation, with over-reliance on formalized Aristotelian dialectics prioritizing verbal precision over novel inquiry, as critiqued by Renaissance humanists for fostering sterility in metaphysics and natural philosophy.^[98] Causal links emerge from this era's eventual displacement by empirical methods, suggesting that inflexible decorum, by enforcing conformity to precedent, occasionally retarded breakthroughs verifiable through subsequent scientific progress.^[99]

Tensions with Free Speech and Individual Expression

Decorum, by enforcing standards of polite and respectful conduct, inherently conflicts with absolute free speech protections, as it may proscribe expression deemed offensive, disruptive, or uncivil, even when such speech advances public discourse or challenges authority. In the United States, the First Amendment prioritizes the right to free expression over societal norms of propriety, as affirmed in landmark rulings that shield provocative or vulgar speech from government restriction absent incitement to imminent harm. For instance, in Cohen v. California (1971), the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a protester wearing a jacket emblazoned with "Fuck the Draft" in a courthouse, holding that offensive language cannot be criminalized merely to shield unwilling audiences from discomfort, thereby elevating expressive freedom above decorum.^[100] This tension manifests in contemporary institutional settings, where decorum policies—often framed as "civility codes"—have been documented to chill dissent by penalizing speech that disrupts consensus or employs strong rhetoric. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has highlighted how university speech codes, including those mandating civility, would retroactively criminalize tactics of the 1950s-1960s civil rights movement, such as confrontational protests, thereby suppressing analogous challenges to prevailing norms today.^[101] Similarly, in K-12 education, school board decorum rules have silenced parental critics of policies on topics like curriculum content or health mandates; a 2024 federal appeals court ruling struck down overly restrictive public comment guidelines in one district, finding they unconstitutionally barred direct address to board members and substantive criticism under the guise of maintaining order.^[102] Proponents of stringent decorum, often aligned with progressive institutional perspectives, contend it safeguards vulnerable groups from psychological harm inflicted by "hate speech" or incivility, positing that unchecked expression exacerbates power imbalances. Critics, including former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, counter that prioritizing civility over speech enables entrenched authorities to delegitimize opposition, as demands for politeness disproportionately burden dissenters lacking institutional favor and obscure systemic critiques. Empirical analyses support the latter view: a 2022 examination of civility norms revealed they function as "morally justified oppression," marginalizing minority viewpoints by dismissing expressions of anger against inequities as disruptive, thus reinforcing status quo biases rather than fostering inclusive debate.^[103] Historically, episodes of relaxed decorum illustrate causal risks: the French Revolution's 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man initially unleashed unfettered speech and opinion, exposing ancien régime hypocrisies, but devolved into a "culture of calumny" that fueled mob violence, factional purges, and the Reign of Terror by 1794, prompting renewed censorship to restore order amid anarchy.^[104] Such patterns underscore that while indecorous outbursts may yield short-term revelations, they often precipitate long-term instability without countervailing restraints, though free speech advocates maintain that enduring truths emerge more reliably from protected expression than enforced propriety.

Modern Applications and Calls for Revival

In the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st, empirical indicators point to a measurable decline in public decorum, particularly following the cultural shifts of the 1960s. Analysis of American books from 1950 to 2008 reveals a dramatic increase in the frequency of swear words, with terms like the f-word rising over 300-fold in usage, coinciding with broader relativist influences that diminished traditional linguistic restraints.^[105] Similar trends appear in media: television profanity escalated post-1960s deregulation, with studies documenting heightened swearing in catchphrases and teen-oriented films, reflecting eroded norms against coarse expression.^[106]^[107] In U.S. Congress, decorum violations have surged amid polarization, which intensified from the 1970s onward; recent observations note upticks in outbursts, insults, and threats since the 2010s, contrasting with mid-20th-century restraint.^[108]^[109] These shifts correlate with evidence of social norm erosion, where perceived acceptability of extreme views leads to broader norm abandonment, as shown in experimental data on shifting perceptions of stigmatized behaviors.^[110] Modern applications of decorum often manifest in institutional codes, though frequently critiqued for inconsistent enforcement. On university campuses, speech codes and bias response teams—aimed at curbing "offensive" expression—have proliferated since the 1980s, but face accusations of ideological bias, disproportionately targeting conservative viewpoints while permitting left-leaning rhetoric under guises of "progressive" discourse.^[111]^[112] For instance, these mechanisms invite reports of "biased" speech based on protected characteristics, chilling open debate without uniform standards, as evidenced by legal challenges highlighting viewpoint discrimination.^[113] In political settings, calls for reform emerged prominently in 2024, with discussions urging stricter adherence to House rules on civility to mitigate polarization-driven disruptions, such as during high-profile addresses where interruptions prompted pleas for order.^[114]^[115] Advocacy for decorum's revival draws on comparative successes in high-civility regimes. Singapore's strict enforcement of social norms—via fines for public littering, queue-jumping, and disruptive behavior—has empirically sustained low crime rates and high social cohesion since independence in 1965, with governance metrics attributing stability to these restraints amid diverse populations.^[116] Proponents argue such models counter coarseness normalized in Western discourse, which empirical studies link to stifled rational debate; for example, research from the National Institute for Civil Discourse indicates that civility protocols enhance deliberative quality by reducing ad hominem attacks, fostering evidence-based exchanges in polarized environments.^[117] Revival efforts promise benefits like improved public discourse, per analyses showing civil norms correlate with constructive policy outcomes and reduced conflict escalation.^[118] However, critics caution that overly rigid decorum risks sanitizing falsehoods, as seen in campus codes that suppress dissenting facts under "harm" pretexts, potentially entrenching biased narratives over empirical truth. Data from norm-erosion studies further suggest that post-1960s oversharing cultures erode personal boundaries without decorum's counterbalance, yet enforced civility could similarly constrain exposure of institutional errors if selectively applied.^[110] Balanced revival, thus, requires mechanisms prioritizing causal evidence over ideological conformity to avoid these pitfalls.

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[PDF] Parody and Decorum in Ancient Greece and Rome - EliScholar
Decorum is a normative construct: a concept that justifies beliefs about how texts ought to be composed and how people ought to behave, speak, and look. From ...
[13]
Medieval Conduct - University of Minnesota Press
Medieval Conduct expands the concept of conduct to include historicized practices, and theorizes the connection between texts and their concrete social uses; ...Missing: decorum | Show results with:decorum
[14]
Medieval Conduct - Google Books
Medieval Conduct expands the concept of conduct to include historicized practices, and theorizes the connection between texts and their concrete social uses; ...
[15]
"Medieval Conduct" by Kathleen M. Ashley PhD and Robert L A Clark
Description. Focusing on a broad range of texts from England, France, Germany, and Italy—conduct and courtesy books, advise poems, devotional literature, ...Missing: decorum social hierarchy
[16]
ERASMUS AND JUAN LUIS VIVES ON RHETORICAL DECORUM ...
Apr 6, 2021 · The article analyses the emergence of decorum (appropriateness) as a central concept of rhetorical theory in the early sixteenth-century writings of Erasmus ...
[17]
The Book of the Courtier, by Count Baldesar Castiglione
The Book of the Courtier by Count Baldesar Castiglione (1528) translated from the Italian and annotated by Leonard Eckstein Opdycke with seventy-one portraits ...
[18]
How Did Leon Battista Alberti's “On Painting” Shaped ... - TheCollector
Jun 30, 2025 · Leon Battista Alberti's book On Painting is the first known book on art theory, published in 1435. It heavily influenced all subsequent Renaissance art.
[19]
(PDF) Decorum in Renaissance Art - Academia.edu
Courtesy literature shared common ideologies with medieval and renaissance narrative paintings, dramas and devotional literature.
[20]
An Outline of Classical Rhetoric - Oxford Academic
Aristotle had laid down the first principles of linguistic decorum, stating that in rhetoric language 'will be appropriate if it expresses emotion and ...
[21]
Decorum - PBworks
Decorum consists of knowing and applying the rhetorically appropriate words, actions, mannerisms, volume, tone, and general delivery to a given situation.Missing: philosophy | Show results with:philosophy<|separator|>
[22]
Cicero & the Catiline Conspiracy - World History Encyclopedia
Feb 3, 2016 · Considered by many to be corrupt, he once had been expelled by the Senate and stripped of his rank. Cicero had used his superior oratory skills ...
[23]
Demosthenes And The Rhetorical Principles Established By His ...
Hearing Callistratus deliver an oration, Demosthenes felt the charm of his oratory, beheld the distinction it conferred, and then and there resolved to become ...
[24]
Demosthenes - Heritage History
Demosthenes is one of the most famous orators of ancient times, and many of his speeches were preserved and studied by students of rhetoric for hundreds of ...
[25]
https://poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/HoraceArsPoetica.php
[26]
The Augustan Art of Poetry - Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Oct 18, 2006 · In S's words: 'Dryden and Pope deploy the mature Augustan couplet with a consistent rhythmic certainty, an easy decorum of style and content, ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[27]
[PDF] A Study of the Influence of the Epic On Selected Works of John Dryden
Apr 24, 1972 · Thus public taste became the deciding factor in decorum of character as well as verisimilitude. Le Bossu, perhaps because of the common sense ...
[28]
Nature, Wit, and Invention: Contextualizing An Essay on Criticism
In An Essay on Criticism, Pope absorbs and rearticulates the concept of decorum, which was formed in the Grecian-Roman period and went on to underpin much ...
[29]
https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/preface-to-lyrical-ballads/
[30]
10.3 The concept of decorum in Classical poetry - Fiveable
This concept guides poets to match language, themes, and characters to appropriate contexts and genres, creating harmony between style and content. Decorum ...
[31]
Aristotle, The Poetics - CSUN
PURPOSE OF DRAMA: ... According to Aristotle the purpose of Drama is to arouse in the audience feelings of PITY and FEAR, and to purge these emotions (catharsis), ...
[32]
1. The Structure of the Fabula (I): Aristotle's Poetics
Aristotle was supposed to have established three rules which every play ought to follow: unity of action, of place and of time. Aristotle does give some ...
[33]
Screenwriting 101: Unity of Drama - What Aristotle's Poetics Means ...
May 3, 2017 · These rules for drama were originally derived from Aristotle's Poetics, when the philosopher discussed the definition of tragedy. But trust me, ...
[34]
Unities of Time, Place, and Action - Literary Latitude
Jul 28, 2025 · Aristotle, in his seminal work Poetics, primarily emphasized the unity of action, with the unities of time and place being largely inferred or ...
[35]
French Neoclassical Theatre - Textor to Racine to Moliere
Jul 29, 2014 · Violent scenes and acts were often depicted on stage in the middle ... Pierre Corneille was writing in the 1630's and he broke the ...
[36]
[PDF] Neoclassical Dramatic Theory in Seventeenth-Century France
The extreme, violent nature of Senecan tragedy also had a certain appeal in the period leading up to the beginnings of French classicism, although this element ...
[37]
Decorum and Shakespearean Tragedy
Decorum, then, is the standard to which one should aspire—as king, coun- selor, husband, wife, servant, or child. Of course, this ideal state rarely exists; ...Missing: Elizabethan kings
[38]
“The subject of Richard II is the reign and deposition of an English ...
May 13, 2012 · There is also a consistency of decorum that Shakespeare maintains throughout, and exploits by significant breakthroughs of tone whenever ...
[39]
The Father of Realism - Court Theatre
Feb 19, 2020 · However, as Ibsen was notable for doing, the play still challenged the state of Norwegian society at the time, focusing on themes other ...
[40]
Realism In Ibsen's Doll's House - NibblePop
Mar 7, 2024 · Ibsen's “A Doll's House” brought to theatre a radical departure from unrealistic and unnatural dramatic conventions to usher in the new era of realism.Departure From Convention · Gender Dynamics · Nora's Transformation
[41]
6.3 The concept of Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect) - Fiveable
Bertolt Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt, or alienation effect, shook up traditional theatre. This technique aimed to distance audiences from emotional involvement, ...
[42]
Brecht's Striking Epic Theatre Techniques – 70 Explanations
Aug 25, 2025 · Brecht argued that realistic theatre had a sedative effect on audiences, pacifying them rather than encouraging active critical engagement. In ...
[43]
Bertolt Brecht In Five Plays - Breaking Character
Feb 7, 2023 · In Brecht's plays, the alienation prevents the audience from becoming too emotionally involved with the characters. The fourth wall is broken down.
[44]
Hays Code | Hollywood History, Films, Years, Rules, Era, & Definition
The Hays Code was a set of guidelines, self-imposed by Hollywood studios, regulating the moral content of films produced from 1934 to 1968.
[45]
Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 Years On - NPR
Aug 8, 2008 · For more than three decades, the code applied rigid moral scrutiny to films, banning everything from interracial dating to "lustful kissing.
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The Golden Age of America As Created in Hays Code Era Movies
Apr 17, 2025 · The Code aimed to make all movies appropriate for all audiences, in accordance with conservative Christian leanings in the early 20th century ...
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Sleep No More by Punchdrunk | Immersive Live Shows Experience
Sleep No More is a unique, immersive experience where audiences move freely through Macbeth, creating their own journeys in a film noir world.
[48]
an environment-behavior studies analysis of Punchdrunk's Sleep No ...
Mar 4, 2023 · In this article, we examine Punchdrunk's Sleep No More (2011 New York production, which is still running) to evaluate how audiences carry the behavioral rules.
[49]
Marvel Cinematic Universe Franchise Box Office History
The biggest franchise in movie history tops the box office chart yet again this weekend, with Thunderbolts* posting a very respectable $76 million on debut.The Marvels (2023) · Shang-Chi and the Legend … · Iron Man · Black Widow
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Marvel's Blockbuster Machine - Harvard Business Review
Its 22 films have grossed some $17 billion—more than any other movie franchise in history. At the same time, they average an impressive 84% approval rating on ...
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The evolutionary origin of human kissing - PMC - PubMed Central
Grooming represents, thus, an ancestral hygienic and affiliative behavior among primates, one that is performed between other‐ and same‐sex and ages, first and ...
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The 38 Best Pieces of Advice Lord Chesterfield Gave His Son
Apr 18, 2023 · Lord Chesterfield wrote more than 400 letters to Philip, instructing him not only in the subjects of a classical education like literature and history, but the ...
[54]
4.4 Nonverbal Communication and Culture – Exploring Relationship ...
Because of this, bowing is the preferred nonverbal greeting over handshaking. Bows vary based on status, with higher status people bowing the least. For ...
[55]
An Anthropology of the Handshake
Oct 20, 2020 · The handshake is historically linked to the purpose of conveying peaceful intentions among armed men.Missing: cross- conflict
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the social spread of the handshake in urbanizing Britain, 1700–1850
May 30, 2024 · By the early nineteenth century, moreover, daily use of the handshake was spreading among middle- and upper-class society, including women.
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The Effect of Social Connectedness on Crime: Evidence from ... - NIH
We find that social connectedness considerably reduces murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts.
[58]
Understanding the Link between Social Organization and Crime in ...
Low levels of social organization are proposed to lead to high levels of crime and perceived crime. Additionally, these factors may create feelings of division ...
[59]
Inefficiencies in the division of labour in human societies - PMC - NIH
Mar 20, 2025 · The implementation of general rules and organizational routines tends to ignore special circumstances, stifle innovation and creativity, and ...
[60]
(PDF) The Role of Organizational Culture in Driving Innovation
Aug 6, 2025 · This study investigates the relationship between organizational culture and innovation, emphasizing the cultural attributes that enable or inhibit innovative ...Missing: etiquette modern
[61]
The Rule XIX Call to Order for Disorderly Language in Senate Debate
Jun 27, 2018 · The Senate has, from the 1st Congress (1789-1790), valued the importance of decorum in debate and included a "call to order" mechanism in its ...
[62]
Unparliamentary language - UK Parliament
Words to which objection has been taken by the Speaker over the years include blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon and ...
[63]
Courtroom Decorum - Foundations of Law - Lawshelf
Courtroom decorum is essential for justice, involving lawyers' actions, avoiding personal opinions, and the formal setting, which reflects respect for justice.
[64]
[PDF] Fostering Positive Corporate Culture in the Post-Enron Era
corporate codes of conduct and compliance training were an important part of good corporate ... (1) State the company's commitment to ethical and legal conduct;.
[65]
Study Links Political Civility to the Productivity of State Legislatures
Dec 5, 2023 · They then compared each legislatures' overall level of civility with how many bills were passed, how much significant legislation was enacted, ...Missing: studies | Show results with:studies
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Legislative Civility, Gridlock, Polarization, and Productivity
Nov 28, 2023 · This article examines the relationship between legislative civility and legislative productivity in US state legislatures.
[67]
Prudence and Populism | The Heritage Foundation
Mar 1, 2023 · Populism is part of our democratic republic, but so also is the republican principle that combines and shapes how institutions should inform ...
[68]
For leftists/left-leaning: Do you think the left has a toxicity problem?
Apr 25, 2023 · The moral perfectionism/puritanism and focus on language policing is so dysfunctional and toxic. It turns the left in a deeply elitist and exclusive club.Good leftist critiques of identity politics/"wokeism"? : r/CriticalTheoryWhat are the best responses to this "elitist" argument against ...More results from www.reddit.com
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The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism | The Quarterly Review of Biology
A model is presented to account for the natural selection of what is termed reciprocally altruistic behavior.Missing: manners | Show results with:manners
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(PDF) Costly Signaling Theory - ResearchGate
Oct 22, 2018 · Costly signaling theory proposes that animals (including humans) may send honest signals about desirable personal characteristics and access to resources.
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Aggression heuristics underlie animal dominance hierarchies and ...
In animal conflict, the more information individuals have about their social world the better decisions they can make about whom to fight.
[72]
Aggression and dominance: an interdisciplinary overview
We briefly review recent work on the functions of aggression and dominance hierarchies in animal societies, and then consider their phylogenetic history.
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From Neurons to Social Beings: Short Review of the Mirror Neuron ...
This review discusses MNS studies of animals and human MNS studies related to high-order social cognitions such as emotion and empathy, as well as relations ...Missing: propriety | Show results with:propriety
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An fMRI study of intentional and unintentional (embarrassing ...
The aim of this investigation was to identify neural systems supporting the processing of intentional and unintentional transgressions of social norms.Missing: studies etiquette discomfort
[75]
fMRI study of intentional and unintentional (embarrassing) violations ...
The observed responses were similar for both intentional and unintentional social norm violations, albeit more pronounced for the intentional norm violations.Missing: etiquette breaches discomfort
[76]
Children With Strong Social Skills More Likely to Thrive as Adults
Jul 16, 2015 · A 20-year study shows a link between children's social skills in kindergarten and their well-being in early adulthood.Missing: manners training
[77]
Cooperation and preference by peers in early childhood: A ...
Jan 9, 2020 · Longitudinal studies with school children have shown that behaviors displayed during interactions with peers predict rejection or preference ...
[78]
Skills Set # 23: Decorum, Effectiveness and Excellence
Nov 18, 2021 · Decorum is “behaviour that is controlled, calm, and polite” and should be observed by barristers or solicitors alike, not as a matter of strategic expediency.
[79]
Conformity Bias - Ethics Unwrapped
The conformity bias is the tendency people have to behave like those around them rather than using their own personal judgment.<|control11|><|separator|>
[80]
Durkheim, Emile | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The foundational claim for Durkheim's sociology, and what is to make up the subject matter for sociology, is the existence of what Durkheim calls social facts.
[81]
The Rules of Sociological Method (1895) - Emile Durkheim
Durkheim conceived of sociology as the scientific study of a reality sui generis, a clearly defined group of phenomena different from those studied by all ...
[82]
Trust, cooperation, and market formation in the U.S. and Japan - PMC
Compared with the U.S., Japan has stronger group obligations, lower deviance, stronger relational commitment, and lower social mobility (1–3). Hagen and Choe (4) ...
[83]
Understanding Cultural Differences Around Social Norms
Sep 9, 2019 · Some cultures are "tight" with strict rules, while others are "loose" with more permissive norms. This is a continuum, with some cultures being ...
[84]
Lessons from li: a confucian-inspired approach to global bioethics
Sep 30, 2025 · virtue of li (禮) (ritual propriety and decorum), we argue for greater tolerance, respect, epistemic justice, cultural humility and civility.<|separator|>
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Understanding Collectivist Cultures - Verywell Mind
Oct 16, 2025 · Collectivist cultures emphasize the needs and goals of the group, contrary to individualistic societies. Learn more about collectivist ...
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[PDF] Private Norms and Public Spaces
Third, city governments have become increasingly interested in enforcing norms of decorum in public spaces and, in so doing, allocating a scarce and critically ...
[87]
The downside of diversity - The New York Times
Aug 5, 2007 · The greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects.Missing: decorum | Show results with:decorum
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Immigrants from more tolerant cultures integrate deeper into ...
The results indicate that tolerance in the background culture is a robust predictor of integration among children of immigrants in European societies.Missing: clashes | Show results with:clashes
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Integration gaps persist despite immigrants' value assimilation
Relative to natives, immigrants in Europe face disparities in the workplace, in their social integration and in their political participation. Immigrants ...
[90]
Statistics on Incivility - Walk The Ridge
93% of Americans identify incivility as a problem – 68% consider it a major problem. This has remained relatively unchanged since 2010.
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Is Incivility Really Getting Worse? | American Enterprise Institute - AEI
Apr 28, 2025 · The poll, conducted by the American Bar Association, found that 85% of 1,000 respondents said civility in today's society is worse than 10 years ...
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[PDF] Is Civility on the Decline in America? - Weber Shandwick
Even President Obama has acknowledged the growing incivility in politics, stating “[Incivility] poisons the well of public opinion. It leaves each side ...
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The Evolution of Social Beliefs 1960–2016 in the United States and ...
Jun 29, 2020 · As the social and cultural turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s manifested in American youth, researchers began documenting changes within them.
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Plato: ethics and politics in The Republic
Apr 1, 2003 · The critics typically claim that Plato's political ideal rests on an unrealistic picture of human beings. The ideal city is conceivable, but ...
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Plato: The Republic | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In Book VIII he criticizes democracy as an unjust regime and thus he seems to launch a critique against Athenian democracy.
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On the Genealogy of Morals part 2: The slave morality | Giles Fraser
Nov 3, 2008 · In the second part of our series on Nietzsche, we examine his belief that Christian doctrine is hatred dressed up as love.
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Misleading Narratives: The Galileo Affair's Lessons
Dec 15, 2021 · Galileo himself went to Rome to defend heliocentrism, though historians argue that his combative style likely only harmed his cause and ...
[98]
Scholasticism: How a Philosophical Monopoly Succumbs to New ...
Jul 19, 2023 · Scholasticism Meets History And yet, when we contemplate how great philosophical systems fall and are replaced via intellectual battles, how ...Missing: decorum | Show results with:decorum
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(PDF) Humanism, scholasticism, and Renaissance philosophy
... Philosophy was emerging as a secular discipline. Petrarch's critique of scholasticism These tendencies in scholastic education had already taken root when ...
[100]
Cohen v. California (1971) | The First Amendment Encyclopedia
Jan 1, 2009 · In Cohen v. California, 403 US 15 (1971), the Supreme Court established that the government generally cannot criminalize the display of profane words in public ...
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[PDF] Spotlight on Speech Codes 2022 - FIRE - Colorado Mesa University
Jan 27, 2022 · Some of the expression employed in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, for example, would violate campus civility codes today.
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A School Board Tried to Make Public Comments Civil. It Went Too ...
Oct 9, 2024 · The second school board rule barred speakers from addressing their comments to board members other than the chair. The appeals court said that ...Missing: 2020s | Show results with:2020s
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[PDF] Civility as Morally Justified Oppression - University Blog Service
217 It discounts the viewpoints and voices of minority students for whom the status quo is unjust. It suggests that their anger at the current inequity of ...
[104]
Policing Public Opinion in the French Revolution - napoleon.org
In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 , French revolutionaries proclaimed the freedom of speech, religion, and opinion. Censorship ...Missing: indecorum | Show results with:indecorum
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Increases in the Use of Swear Words in American Books, 1950-2008
Aug 3, 2017 · Despite the interest in trends in swearing, direct empirical evidence for the increasing use of swear words is lacking. In fact, studies of ...
[106]
The evolution of swearing in television catchphrases - Sage Journals
May 5, 2022 · ... swearing catchphrase, thereby potentially increasing tolerance for swearing both on television and off. ... swear words had increased since ...
[107]
[PDF] Swearing In The Cinema: An analysis of profanity in US teen
Apr 1, 2009 · Swearing in the cinema 16. Page 18. Discussion. While the use of profanity on television continues to rise (Kay & Sapolsky, 2004a), this study ...
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The polarization in today's Congress has roots that go back decades
Mar 10, 2022 · A Pew Research Center analysis finds that, on average, Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than at any time in the past 50 years.Missing: outbursts | Show results with:outbursts
[109]
Has Congress always been this poorly behaved? - Scripps News
Jan 26, 2024 · From threats of violence to language you probably wouldn't use in front of your mother, there's been an uptick in rowdy behavior from our nation's lawmakers.
[110]
From Extreme to Mainstream: The Erosion of Social Norms
People may become more inclined to express views or take actions previously perceived as stigmatized and may judge others less negatively for doing so.
[111]
Bias-response teams criticized for sanitizing campuses of dissent
Aug 27, 2018 · The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the decision to protect offensive speech in at least three campus-specific cases. Now, public universities are ...
[112]
REPORT: Free Speech in the Crosshairs: Bias Reporting on College ...
Typically, BRSs invite students and faculty to report speech that is “biased” on the basis of some protected characteristic such as race, religion, ...
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Campus Speech Codes | The First Amendment Encyclopedia
Aug 3, 2023 · Campus speech codes prohibiting offensive or intolerant speech directed at individuals or groups based on their race, color, religion, ethnicity, disability, ...<|separator|>
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Can decorum and civility be restored on Capitol Hill? - NPR
May 24, 2024 · NPR's Michel Martin talks to Democratic strategist Grisella Martinez about what's happening to decorum.Missing: reforms | Show results with:reforms
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Trump takes credit for 'swift and unrelenting' action in speech ... - PBS
Mar 4, 2025 · After several interruptions, House Speaker Mike Johnson jumped in and called for decorum to be restored in the chamber as Republicans shouted “ ...<|separator|>
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Governance of a City-State | NUS LKYSPP
Singapore is a uniquely successful small global city-state. Its size, location, history, diverse population, and lack of natural resources present a unique ...
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National Institute For Civil Discourse - Engaging Differences ...
NICD supports research on civility to create a body of knowledge on the history of political and social discourse in America and ways to improve it. Our ...About NICD · NICD Staff · NICD Programs · Civility in the News
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For the Sake of Argument | Harvard Kennedy School
Civil discourse isn't just about polite conversation. It's a vital ingredient to better public policy and public leadership. And vital to the Kennedy School's ...