Professional Speech Doctrine and The Freedom of Speech

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01299
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 05020:Public law-related
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University
• Principal Investigator: Inoue Yoshihito 広島大学, 人間社会科学研究科(社), 准教授 (70390515)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 表現の自由 / 営利的言論 / 助言 / 専門家

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Certain speech, categorized as professional speech, is behind a knowledge community consisting of a network of professionals. When the government seeks to control communication between professionals and clients, it must be required to respect and defer to the judgment of the knowledge community. The knowledge community must verify the knowledge created by the profession by scientific methods and have a special interest in the accuracy of that knowledge, and political interference with it must be ruled out (This does not apply to professionals who are not associated with the knowledge community). This study clarified that the normative content of freedom of expression in the context of professional speech means this (knowledge community theory).

Free Research Field

憲法学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

わが国において，医者が患者に与える情報を，国家が法令その他の方法によって統制しようとするとき，医者の表現の自由あるいは患者の自己決定権への配慮が問題となる。たとえば人工妊娠中絶にかかわる医療上の助言として一定の情報を提供するように医者に義務づけるとすれば，自己の信仰や生き方の選択として出産を尊いものと考えている医者や患者にとっては負担となり得る。このように，専門家が顧客に対してする助言に，国家がどこまで干渉できるのかを，知識コミュニティ理論の視座から明らかにしたことに，学術的および社会的意義があるものと考える。