Toleration and Pragmatism

Abstract

Toleration is a pragmatic response to the practical need to coexist with others who have different conceptions of the good. Toleration develops out of the recognition that in practice diversity cannot be eradicated by either philosophical argument or political force. We see this pragmatic approach in both the history of discussions of toleration and contemporary accounts. Locke argued, for example, that since it was not practically possible to produce orthodoxy by way of coercion, the state should tolerate dissent. 1 Locke's approach became more clearly defined in the nineteenth century with Mill's account of the practical need to tolerate dissenting opinions. Both Locke and Mill base their argument for toleration upon an account of human psychology and epistemology. While Locke rejects coercion in belief formation, Mill emphasizes that belief in the truth will be stronger if the truth has been tempered by argument and dissent (1998, chap. 2). Although Mill's psychology of belief is similar to Locke's, his tolerant attitude goes beyond Locke. Mill celebrates diversity as such. 2 Mill thus foreshadows the way in which toleration would develop in the twentieth century. Today we encounter radical diversity with tolerant eyes opened by the horrors of those "final solutions" that have sought to eliminate it. We no longer believe that it is practically possible to unify human life under one concept or idea.