Revisiting Some Liberal Views on Tolerance

Abstract

As a practice, which implies the promotion of patience and open-mindedness, on the one hand, and the prohibition of bias and parochialism, on the other hand, tolerance is firmly located within a liberal tradition. Seemingly less agreed upon, is the, at times, interchangeable use between tolerance and toleration. In taking account of, and revisiting some liberal views of tolerance, we commence this chapter by firstly exploring conceptions of tolerance or toleration in relation to the self and others. Thereafter, we turn our attention to contemporary expositions of tolerance in relation to Eamonn Callan’s (Creating citizens: Political education and liberal democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) account of tolerance with dissent; Amy Gutmann’s (Democratic education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987) take on tolerance and recognition: on agreeing to disagree; and Jacques Derrida’s (2003) tolerance of responsibility.