TOLERANCE
Marjoka van Doorn,
VU University Amsterdam
VU University Amsterdam
Abstract
“Tolerance is a flawed virtue for a flawed society.” Schuyt, 2001.
Tolerance entails acceptance of the very things one disagrees with, disapproves of or dislikes. Tolerance can be seen as ‘a flawed virtue’ (Schuyt, 2001), because it concerns acceptance of the differences between others and ourselves we would rather fight, ignore or overcome. Although tolerance carries with it this negative connotation of conditionality, as imperfect as it may be it does provide a ‘recipe’ for dealing with sometimes irreconcilable differences between (groups of) people in society. In this paper an examination of the paradoxical nature of tolerance (part I), is followed by a review of academic literature and empirical findings on tolerance and its determinants (part II). To conclude, future challenges for tolerance research are outlined (part III).
Tolerance entails acceptance of the very things one disagrees with, disapproves of or dislikes. Tolerance can be seen as ‘a flawed virtue’ (Schuyt, 2001), because it concerns acceptance of the differences between others and ourselves we would rather fight, ignore or overcome. Although tolerance carries with it this negative connotation of conditionality, as imperfect as it may be it does provide a ‘recipe’ for dealing with sometimes irreconcilable differences between (groups of) people in society. In this paper an examination of the paradoxical nature of tolerance (part I), is followed by a review of academic literature and empirical findings on tolerance and its determinants (part II). To conclude, future challenges for tolerance research are outlined (part III).
No comments