Publication date:
23 June 2010Length of book:
136 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
241x162mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739147399
More than anything, diversity is what characterizes societies of the 21st century. Our contemporary societies are marked by ethnic, religious, racial, ideological, moral, and sexual diversity. Cultural, moral, and ideological pluralism is a fact of our lives. While some people see this phenomenon as a source of richness and thus welcome it, others feel threatened by it. Those who feel threatened have two options before them; they will either learn how to live with diversity or look for ways to suppress it. While, this latter option causes social conflict, the former ameliorates social conflict. This option is called "toleration."
Toleration: The Liberal Virtue is a defense of toleration as a remedy to societal conflict caused by differences. It examines four prominent grounds of toleration: skepticism, prudence, autonomy, and conscience which are illustrated through the works of four pioneering liberals, namely, Michel de Montaigne, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Pierre Bayle, respectively.
Toleration: The Liberal Virtue is a defense of toleration as a remedy to societal conflict caused by differences. It examines four prominent grounds of toleration: skepticism, prudence, autonomy, and conscience which are illustrated through the works of four pioneering liberals, namely, Michel de Montaigne, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Pierre Bayle, respectively.
In today's globalized world, in which different peoples, states, and religions increasingly interact -and sometimes collide-with one another, few problems are more pressing than the issue of toleration. Sahin probes "the paradox of toleration" by asking the question why should we not persecute that with which we disagree? Using canonical political theorists - Montaigne, Locke, Mill and Bayle - as well as contemporary thinkers such as Kymlicka and Kukathas, Sahin presents an array of answers rooted in four different grounds for toleration: skepticism, prudence, autonomy, and conscience. Sahin's book is a good introduction to an important and timely issue. It is as enlightening as it is useful.