Tolerance is one of the most-prized social virtues in America today. What is it? Is it accepting other's views, giving assent that their beliefs are right for them? Or is it being accepting of others with views different than one's own?
I think it is closer to the latter. Toleration in the former sense leans towards complete subjectivism and cannot include tolerance for objectivism (Stetson and Conti, 'The Truth about Tolerance'). Since tolerance cannot be acceptance of all views as correct (due to the contradiction presented above), it seems toleration must be about our relation to people, rather than ideas.
Tolerance, well-understood, is a term for a political and social stance and activity emanating from that stance. It is a term that is seen in one's actions, not in one's beliefs about a contended issue, e.g., gay marriage, ultimate truth, religion, etc. Those who positively believe that God exists can be tolerant of those who positively believe that no God exists, and vice versa. Each can deeply believe contradictory things, and still be tolerant of the other. This is not done by keeping one's beliefs to oneself or by acknowledging that one might be wrong in one's beliefs, but it is done by not harming those who hold beliefs opposed to one's own beliefs.
Oh no, he's started a blog! Careful, it's addicting! :-) (Good beginning!)
ReplyDeleteInteresting. What do you mean by "not harming" those who hold beliefs different from one's own? Is this limited to physical harm? What about other forms of oppression, such as denial of access to public forums? What about verbal abuse of the children of those who hold different beliefs? The point being that "not harming" may be too broad a term here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting!
ReplyDeleteIt is not defined here, sure. Physical harm counts as harming another, but I guess I might need more examples from you here. How would an individual deny another individual's access to a public forum without harming him. Locking him up in a basement is 'harming him', they both have equal rights to speak in public forums. Verbal abuse is 'harming another', but voicing one's opinion is not. Verbal abuse is not allowed, but simply verbalizing one's opinion is fine. Involving kids, though, involves the kids' parents and their protection of their children, so that seems more complicated than it might seem.