The Human Right to Freedom of Thought

A topic of great interest to me is the interpretation or reconstruction of the international human right to freedom of thought (enshrined in numerous human rights documents, Article 18 UDHR, ICCPR; Article 13 ACHR, Article 9 ECHR). First emerging in the UDHR in 1948, it has only rarely been applied in legal practice so far as a distinct right, apart from freedoms of expression or conscience. It has been invoked in only a dozen or so cases worldwide, and even in them, it rarely played a decisive role (if you know of any case addressing freedom of thought, please drop me a line!). Scholarly interest in the right has awakened in recent years, mainly in respect to novel technological interventions into minds and thoughts as well as disinformation. At present, meaning, scope, and limits of the rights are unclear; it is a right in the books only. The first report on the right at the UN level was written by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, A. Shaheed, in 2021 (here).

I am seeking to offer the contours of a reasonable construal of the right for contemporary challenges, currently writing a monograph on it (under contract with Cambridge University Press). I have addressed various aspects of the right in different papers. For a general overview, my first paper might be a good start: 

• Bublitz, Freedom of Thought in the Age of Neuroscience: A Plea and a Proposal for the Renaissance of a Forgotten Fundamental Right. ARSP: Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie / Archives for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy 100, No. 1 (2014), 1-25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24756752

For the history of the right, see my chapter in the Cambridge Handbook on the right. It is largely a legal history addressing details of the drafting of the UDHR but not, to reviewer’s dismay, the extra-legal context or personal views of drafters that led to the adoption of Article 18 UDHR, which are largely irrelevant for legal interpretations of a provision.

• Bublitz, ‘The Mind and Conscience are the Person’s Most Sacred Possessions’: The Origins of Freedom of Thought in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In: O’Callaghan/Shiner (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook for the Right to Freedom of Thought. 2025. [link]

For some suggestions for a contemporary interpretation of the right:

• Bublitz, Freedom of Thought as an International Human Right: Elements of a Theory of a Living Right. In: Blitz/Bublitz (eds.), The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought Vol. I. Palgrave (2021), 50-101. [Link]
• Bublitz, What Is “Thought”? Interpreting and Constructing Article 18 ICCPR in Light of the Vienna Convention. In: Bublitz/Blitz (eds) The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought Vol. II. [OA]

A related debate concerns Cognitive Liberty, primarily a US-American concept developed as a modernized version of freedom of thought by Richard Boire and Wyre Sententia around the turn of the millenium. On that debate, see

• Bublitz, Cognitive Liberty: A Brief History. In: Bublitz/Blitz (eds) The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought Vol II. [OA] 

Finally, here is a recording of a presentation at the Freedom of Thought Research Network on the history of the right (based on the chapter in the CUP handbook above).