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If we are to understand the concept of toleration in terms of everyday life, we must address a key philosophical and political tension: the call for restraint when encountering apparently wrong beliefs and actions versus the good reasons for interfering with the lives of the subjects of these beliefs and actions. This collection contains original contributions to the ongoing debate on the nature of toleration, including its definition, historical development, justification, and limits. In exploring the issues surrounding toleration, the essays address a variety of provocative questions. Throughout, the contributors point to the inherent indeterminacy of the concept and to the difficulty in locating it between intolerant absolutism and skeptical pluralism. Religion, sex, speech, and education are major areas requiring toleration in liberal societies. By applying theoretical analysis, these essays show the differences in the argument for toleration and its scope in each of these realms. The contributors include Joshua Cohen, George Fletcher, Gordon Graham, Alon Harel, Moshe Halbertal, Barbara Herman, John Horton, Will Kymlicka, Avishai Margalit, David Richards, Thomas Scanlon, and Bernard Williams. "When subtle thinkers probe tolerance with the acuity of this volume's contributors, we see both how far the notion stretches, and the profound challenges it poses to our habits of thinking." --The Philadelphia Inquirer
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TOLERATION TOLERATION A N E LU S I V E V I RT U E Edited by David Heyd PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright 1996 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Toleration : an elusive virtue / edited by David Heyd. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-691-04371-X (alk. paper) 1. Toleration. I. Heyd, David. BJ1431.T64 1996 179′.9—dc20 95-34037 CIP This book has been composed in Sabon Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources Printed in the United States of America by Princeton Academic Press 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface vii List of Contributors ix Introduction David Heyd 3 1. Toleration: An Impossible Virtue? Bernard Williams 18 2. Toleration as a Virtue John Horton 28 3. Tolerance, Pluralism, and Relativism Gordon Graham 44 4. Pluralism and the Community of Moral Judgment Barbara Herman 60 5. Two Models of Pluralism and Tolerance Will Kymlicka 81 6. Autonomy, Toleration, and Group Rights: A Response to Will Kymlicka Moshe Halbertal 106 7. The Boundaries of Justifiable Tolerance: A Liberal Perspective Alon Harel 114 8. Toleration and the Struggle against Prejudice David A. J. Richards 127 9. The Ring: On Religious Pluralism Avishai Margalit 147 10. The Instability of Tolerance George P. Fletcher 158 11. Freedom of Expression Joshua Cohen 173 12. The Difficulty of Tolerance T. M. Scanlon 226 Index of Names and Cases 241 Preface THIS VOLUME contains papers delivered in the Tenth Jerusalem Philosophical Encounter held in Jerusalem in January 1992 under the auspices of the S. H. Bergman Center for Philosophical Studies at The Hebrew University. I am grateful to Yirmiya