Toleration

Within liberal societies, toleration is seen as one of the cardinal political virtues. Likewise, we tend to think positively of people who have a tolerant attitude towards others in their personal life. At the same time, however, in our increasingly polarized societies, toleration is something that is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain and it is generally accepted that toleration must have its limits: there are certain practices that we should not tolerate.  In this course we investigate the notion of toleration from different sides. By studying both classic and more recent authors, we address a variety of issues concerning toleration. Thus, for instance, we try and determine exactly what it means to be tolerant; we discuss why toleration is important; and we attempt to ascertain when and to what extent it is to be regarded as a virtue, or how the limits of toleration are to be determined. In doing so, we gain insight into what role toleration is to play both socially and politically.   This philosophy course is open to students from all disciplines.