Is Tolerance a Virtue?

By Dr Yoav J. Tenembaum oxbridge@netvision.net.il

The word tolerance is widely used in liberal democracies. It is ascribed a

positive meaning. Politicians urge us to be tolerant towards minorities.

Educators teach us to be tolerant towards the other. The press is full of

references to the need to display tolerance when faced with individuals or

groups espousing a different view or holding a different religious belief.

A tolerant society is an objective sought after by anyone who believes in

the values of parliamentary democracy. A tolerant individual is attributed

with virtuous qualities.

To be sure, liberal political philosophers used the term tolerance in a

positive vein, from the 17th century onwards. Laws aimed at granting legal

rights to minorities or religious groups were enacted containing the word

tolerance or toleration in the 19th century. Today, the word tolerance has

become a well-established concept denoting a virtue as widely entrenched as

free-speech, equality under the law, etc.

The question we must ask is whether we have been using the word tolerance

fully cognizant of its meaning and whether we have applied it correctly to

reflect what we really wish to convey?

The word tolerance means to bear, or to bear with. If I tolerate something

or someone, I basically say that I am ready to bear it or him.

I can tolerate a bad odour.I can tolerate a noisy neighbour. The act of

toleration entails an effort on my part to desist from conveying my

objection to the existence of a phenomenon, which I find difficult to bear.

The phenomenon as such is ascribed by me a negative attribute. A bad odour

or a noisy neighbour is deemed by me to be an objectionable phenomenon. By

tolerating either of them, I am not transforming the bad odour or the noisy

neighbour into positive phenomena. Let's be honest: I don't have a different

taste when it comes to bad odours. I simply dislike it and wish that it

disappear, if at all possible. I don't respect the noisy neighbour. I would

rather have him stop at once the noise he is making so I can live in peace. 

To try to eliminate the bad odour or take reasonable action in order for the

noisy neighbour to stop bothering me would most probably not be considered

an intolerant act by most people. Tolerating either would not be deemed, on

the other hand, a laudable or virtuous act.

Now, let's try to apply the word tolerance in reference to a person who is

law-abiding and holds a legally acceptable different view from my own. I may

have a strong view, which is diametrically opposed to his view. Quite

candidly, I may decide to tolerate his view. By so doing, I would be

attributing to it a negative characteristic. I would apply the same attitude

to his view as to the bad odour or noisy neighbour. Thus, to try to take

action in order to make his view disappear would be considered an intolerant

act. To tolerate his view the way I would a bad odour or a noisy neighbour,

could hardly be considered laudable or vitruous.

The same logic would obtain with regard to a religious group different from

my own, which is law-abiding and practices its religion in a peaceful, legal

manner; indeed, to any political, racial or ethnic minority which is

law-abiding.

Tolerance denotes an unequal relationship. The subject tolerating is

inherently not equal to the object being tolerated. If I tolerate you, I

essentially say that I am above you and am prepared, albeit unwillingly, to

bear with your presence or with your practices or opinions. That may be true

in the case of an individual who is ready to tolerate the other. However,

this attitude by such an individual, though empirically true, is hardly a

virtue. Certainly, the fact that an individual, in reality, may merely

tolerate the other or his opinion does not justify a government or any

official authority promoting tolerance as a virtue.

One cannot tolerate an equal being. True equality entails respect, not

toleration. To respect the other as a distinctive person is hardly to

tolerate him. This is the true meaning of equality: diversity existing in a

mutually-respectful socio-legal setting. Diversity existing in a tolerant

society, on the other hand, is akin to the person having to put up with a

bad odour or a noisy neigbour, but in a much wider context. - hardly the

vision entertained by those who sincerely speak of tolerance.

The danger with tolerance, as it is widely used and acted upon in liberal

democracies, is that it can lead, paradoxically, to the acceptance of

individuals or groups bent on destroying the foundations of democratic

systems. We have seen such cases with regard to political parties or

subversive religious groups that have been treated in a liberal manner under

the guise of tolerance. This is what may be called 'the tolerance paradox.'

A tolerant attitude entails the bestowing of a favour, not the granting of a

right. The question we should ask ourselves is whether we would ever wish a

parliament to enact laws according to us, as individuals and as part of a

collective entity, a permission to pursue certain actions construed as a

favour rather than a right? Indeed, would we ever wish anyone to listen to

our views and accept us the way we are simply because he is kind enough to

tolerate us?