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The Palgrave Handbook of Toleration pp 277–298Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Moralism and Anti-Moralism in Theories of Toleration

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Abstract

This chapter is about moralism and antimoralism in theories of tolerance or toleration. Broadly speaking, moralism is the taking of morality to an extreme, such as making everything a moral issue that calls for decisive measures, or assuming that many people are on the wrong side of any issue and need correcting. Antimoralism is the critique of this excessive moralism. Toleration has been the subject of debate for hundreds of years, and there are many possible connections between tolerance and moralism. A tolerant person or a tolerant community might be moralistic, or might reject moralism. An intolerant person or community, similarly, might be moralistic, or might reject moralism. A moralistic person might be tolerant or intolerant, and an antimoralist might be either of the two. Our purpose here is the identification and evaluation elements of moralism or antimoralism in theories of tolerance or toleration.

Keywords

  • Tolerance
  • Toleration
  • Intolerance
  • Negative tolerance
  • Moralism
  • Antimoralism
  • Liberalism
  • Autonomy
  • Liberty
  • Realism
  • Respect

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-42121-2_26
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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    John Christian Laursen & Zachary Dorson

Authors
  1. John Christian Laursen
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  2. Zachary Dorson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Christian Laursen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Dr. 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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Laursen, J.C., Dorson, Z. (2022). Moralism and Anti-Moralism in Theories of Toleration. In: Sardoč, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Toleration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42121-2_26

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