Freedom of the press in Hungarian Late Enlightenment discourse
Freedom of the press in Hungarian Late Enlightenment discourse

Summary/Abstract: The study analyses the socio-political discourse about freedom of the press in the Kingdom of Hungary in the context of the 1790-1791 parliament and the work of the commission for public and political affairs on the preparation of legislation on freedom of the press in the period 1791–1794. Against the background of Hungarian constitutionalism, it notices the opposition and argumentation of Hungarian county authorities concerning decrees on the closure of private printing presses. It analyses further philosophical, religious and political considerations, in order to point out their context in the philosophy of the European Enlightenment, the concept of the social contract, the French revolution and its liberal ideas. It shows how the concept of the nation and the development of its culture as an expression of Hungarian nationalism was brought into these considerations, and that the intensive debate on freedom of the press and expression had no impact on the growing pressure of censorship as an expression of a weakened political power.

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