> The heart of the problem seems to me to be that strictly enforced tolerance
> is profoundly intolerant. Therefore any morality which tries to base
> itself on tolerance per se -- rather than forebearance as embedded in a
> larger system of Christian/Buddhist/whatever beliefs -- is doomed to
> self-contradiction or paralysis. But once tolerance is embedded in a larger
> set of beliefs, there is no longer any guarantee of tolerance per se. Or at
> least there are limits to it. (And focussing on tolerance also begs the
> question of what that larger set of beliefs might be.)
>
In your candidates for 'large set of beliefs', you include old religious
systems. When tolerance is embedded in these, conflicts between the
beliefs of 'wayward' individuals and the moral order are bound to
occur. Perhaps one of our problems is that these old religions don't
adequately map on societies today.
Earlier this year, on the other hand, folks were discussing indices of
'well-being' and 'quality of life' (my favorite is 'human flourishing')
as useful instruments by which to guage the success or failure of
aspirations towards a 'good society'. If civic liberalism as religious
system is founded on a pragmatic consideration of what is needed for the
sustenance and well-being of the larger order - for human flourishing -
than tolerance becomes nothing more than a pragmatic devise used by
members to sustain the well-being of their communities. It's a rudder,
not a foundation. The need for forebarance or censure than becomes a
decision taken by the community on behalf of the community. Public
spaces for deliberation using new technologies become the 'churches' of
the civic liberal order where such matters are discussed by the community
- locally, regionally, nationally, globally...which gets us back to the
'national grid for society' you mentioned earlier this year.
---Dr. G.S. Aikens Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Cambridge University Free School Lane Cambridge CB2 3RQ Tel: 44-1223-334530 (w) 44-1223-313441 (h) E-mail: gsa1001@cus.cam.ac.uk
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