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Toleration and Justice

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The Palgrave Handbook of Toleration

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Abstract

In this entry, the relation between toleration and justice is analyzed starting by discussing the liberal perspective, and taking into consideration both its historical roots and its more recent developments. Within this approach, toleration provided a viable strategy for the coexistence of the beliefs, values, and ways of life of all citizens, by dividing the political sphere from the private realm, and neutralizing both these areas. The entry also analyzes the criticisms that have been addressed to the liberal account of toleration, like the fact that the neutrality principle reflects the values and the conception of the dominant majority, in so neglecting power imbalances, and does not consider social advantages and disadvantages related to the public/private distinction. In the second part, the entry discusses two perspectives on the relation between toleration and justice, those of John Rawls and Rainer Forst, which are considered as partially answering these criticisms. While Rawls’ theory does not precisely define the relation between toleration and justice, and it has been considered as excessively linked to an ideal and initial situation, the theory of Rainer Forst takes power relations explicitly into account, by distinguishing different conceptions of toleration. The analysis of both the theories highlights that the role played by reason in questions concerning toleration may overshadow the fact that reason and reasonableness are always exercised within specific power relations. Therefore, in the final part of the entry, accounts of toleration that start from the recognition of specific intergroup relations, and that are aimed at counterbalancing them as a political objective, are discussed. In these accounts, toleration is understood as delivering justice through social and political inclusion, and as counterbalancing political asymmetries, being given in cases that are beyond the range of what we can recognize and accommodate.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Law School, Lumsa University, Rome, Italy

    Fabio Macioce

Authors
  1. Fabio Macioce
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Res Inst, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mitja Sardoč

Section Editor information

  1. Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mitja Sardoč

  2. Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mitja Sardoč

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Macioce, F. (2021). Toleration and Justice. In: Sardoč, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Toleration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03227-2_36-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03227-2_36-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03227-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-03227-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Political Science and International StudiesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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