| Front | Back | | --- | --- | | What is the definition of tolerance in political philosophy, and what two conditions must be met for it to exist? | Tolerance is the willingness to allow objectionable beliefs, practices, or identities without suppressing them. It requires:

Disagreement: finding the practice objectionable.
Capacity to interfere: having the power to suppress it.

| | What was John Locke's argument for religious tolerance in A Letter Concerning Toleration? | Civil authorities should not impose religious conformity because genuine belief cannot be coerced by external force or political decree. | | How did Voltaire argue for tolerance as an intellectual virtue? | He argued that because human knowledge is highly uncertain, claiming the authority to suppress others' beliefs is a form of dangerous arrogance. | | Distinguish between permission tolerance, coexistence tolerance, and respect tolerance. |

Permission tolerance: A dominant group permits minority practices.
Coexistence tolerance: A mutual arrangement among groups of roughly equal power.
Respect tolerance: Genuine acknowledgement of others as moral equals despite disagreement.

| | What is the primary objection to tolerance regarding its inherent power dynamic? | Tolerance presupposes an asymmetry of power where the dominant group decides to tolerate the minority, preserving a hierarchy and keeping tolerance conditional. | | What is Wendy Brown's critique of how tolerance functions in liberal democracies? | Tolerance acts as a tool of social management that depoliticizes inequality by framing structural injustices as matters of individual attitude. | | How does Charles Taylor's "politics of recognition" differ from mere liberal tolerance? | Taylor argues that equal dignity requires positive recognition of distinct cultural identities, whereas liberal tolerance/neutrality ignores how dominant norms disadvantage minorities. | | What is Iris Marion Young's critique of the ideal of impartiality in liberal tolerance? | The supposedly "universal" standards are actually the culturally specific standards of the dominant group, meaning tolerance just tolerates deviation from a biased norm. | | Give an example of how a state can practice formal tolerance while maintaining structural inequality. | A state may tolerate minority languages (not banning them) but conduct all official business and education in the dominant language, creating systematic disadvantage. | | Explain Karl Popper's "paradox of tolerance" and its key warning. | Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance, because tolerating intolerant movements allows them to gain power and destroy the conditions that make tolerance possible. | | How does John Rawls limit tolerance in Political Liberalism? | Tolerance applies only to reasonable pluralism (those who accept fair terms of cooperation). It does not extend to unreasonable doctrines that deny equal citizenship. | | What is Herbert Marcuse's critique of abstract tolerance in "Repressive Tolerance"? | In an unequal society, tolerating all viewpoints equally (formal neutrality) reinforces the status quo by treating the speech of the powerful and the marginalised as equivalent. | | What solution does Marcuse propose to "repressive tolerance," and what is a major objection to it? |

Proposal: Discriminating tolerance (tolerating progressive movements while limiting regressive ones).
Objection: It requires an authority to decide what is progressive, risking authoritarian imposition.

| | How does Jurgen Habermas's model of deliberative democracy go beyond mere tolerance? | It replaces passive tolerance with active public deliberation, where citizens engage in genuine dialogue and decisions are made through open, equal debate. | | According to Axel Honneth's recognition theory, what three forms of recognition are required for social justice? |

Love (emotional support in intimate relationships)
Rights (legal recognition as an equal citizen)
Solidarity (social esteem for one's contributions and way of life)

| | Why does Will Kymlicka argue that "group-differentiated rights" are necessary for genuine equality? | Formal equality ("same rules for all") is unjust because rules are designed around the majority culture. Minorities need distinct institutional arrangements to achieve actual equality. | | In A Letter Concerning Toleration, John Locke argued that civil authorities cannot coerce genuine belief. | In A Letter Concerning Toleration, John Locke argued that civil authorities cannot coerce genuine belief. | | Wendy Brown argues that tolerance functions as a tool of social management that depoliticizes structural inequality. | Wendy Brown argues that tolerance functions as a tool of social management that depoliticizes structural inequality. | | Karl Popper formulated the paradox of tolerance, which warns that unlimited tolerance leads to its own destruction. | Karl Popper formulated the paradox of tolerance, which warns that unlimited tolerance leads to its own destruction. | | Herbert Marcuse argued for discriminating tolerance, which restricts regressive movements while tolerating progressive ones. | Herbert Marcuse argued for discriminating tolerance, which restricts regressive movements while tolerating progressive ones. |

1. Being human6 subtopics

2. Aesthetics3 subtopics

3. Epistemology3 subtopics

4. Ethics3 subtopics

5. Philosophy of religion3 subtopics

6. Philosophy of science3 subtopics

7. Political philosophy3 subtopics

8. Social philosophy3 subtopics

9. HL extension: Philosophy and contemporary issues3 subtopics

10. Prescribed philosophical texts12 subtopics

IB Philosophy 8.2.2 Tolerance Flashcards