Toleration and Understanding in Locke
Toleration and Understanding in Locke

Author: Nicholas Jolley

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 0198791704

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Despite recent advances in Locke scholarship, philosophers and political theorists have paid little attention to the relations among his three greatest works: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Two Treatises of Government, and Epistola de Tolerantia. As a result our picture of Locke's thought is a curiously fragmented one. Toleration and Understanding in Locke argues that these works are unified by a concern to promote the cause of religious toleration. Making extensive use of Locke's neglected replies to Proast, Nicholas Jolley shows how Locke draws on his epistemological principles to criticize religious persecution - for Locke, since revelation is an object of belief, not knowledge, coercion by the state in religious matters is not morally justified. In this volume Jolley also seeks to show how the Two Treatises of Government and the letters for toleration adopt the same contractualist approach to political theory; Locke argues for toleration from the function of the state where this is determined by the decisions of rational contracting parties. Throughout, attention is paid to demonstrating the range of Locke's arguments for toleration and to defending them, where possible, against recent criticisms. The book includes an account of the development of Locke's views about religious toleration from the beginning to the end of his career; it also includes discussions of his individualism about knowledge and belief, his critique of religious enthusiasm, his commitment to the minimal creed, and his teachings about natural law. Locke emerges as a rather systematic thinker whose arguments are highly relevant to modern debates about religious toleration.

John Locke and the Grounds for Toleration
John Locke and the Grounds for Toleration

Author: Flavio Fontenelle Loque

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-03-03

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 303090363X

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This book offers a detailed analysis of John Locke’s case for toleration and proposes an interpretation that shows the links between his political reasoning and his reflection on the ethics of belief. Locke is concerned with toleration not only when he discusses the ends of the Commonwealth, but also when he assesses the duties of private persons regarding the search for truth. The purpose of this book is to shed light on both of these branches, which have not been sufficiently explored in other studies on Locke. With particular attention to the notions of charity, obstinacy, fallibility, reciprocity and distinction between belief and knowledge, the author proposes a reading of the Epistola de Tolerantia, an extensive discussion of the controversy between Locke and Jonas Proast, as well as an examination of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, in order to establish the meaning and interconnection of Locke’s arguments in favour of toleration.

Second Treatise of Government
Second Treatise of Government

Author: John Locke

Publisher: Hackett Publishing

Published: 1980-06-01

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1603844570

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The Second Treatise is one of the most important political treatises ever written and one of the most far-reaching in its influence. In his provocative 15-page introduction to this edition, the late eminent political theorist C. B. Macpherson examines Locke's arguments for limited, conditional government, private property, and right of revolution and suggests reasons for the appeal of these arguments in Locke's time and since.

Toleration in Conflict
Toleration in Conflict

Author: Rainer Forst

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-01-17

Total Pages: 662

ISBN-13: 0521885779

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This book represents the most comprehensive historical and systematic study of the theory and practice of toleration ever written.

John Locke's Politics of Moral Consensus
John Locke's Politics of Moral Consensus

Author: Greg Forster

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-02-07

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9781139444378

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The aim of this book is twofold: to explain the reconciliation of religion and politics in the work of John Locke, and to explore the relevance of that reconciliation for politics in our own time. Confronted with deep social divisions over ultimate beliefs, Locke sought to unite society in a single liberal community. Reason could identify divine moral laws that would be acceptable to members of all cultural groups, thereby justifying the authority of government. Greg Forster demonstrates that Locke's theory is liberal and rational but also moral and religious, providing an alternative to the two extremes of religious fanaticism and moral relativism. This account of Locke's thought will appeal to specialists and advanced students across philosophy, political science and religious studies.

The Pretenses of Loyalty
The Pretenses of Loyalty

Author: John Perry

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-07-06

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0199339953

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In the face of ongoing religious conflicts and unending culture wars, what are we to make of liberalism's promise that it alone can arbitrate between church and state? In this wide-ranging study, John Perry examines the roots of our thinking on religion and politics, placing the early-modern founders of liberalism in conversation with today's theologians and political philosophers. From the story of Antigone to debates about homosexuality and bans on religious attire, it is clear that liberalism's promise to solve all theo-political conflict is a false hope. The philosophy connecting John Locke to John Rawls seeks a world free of tragic dilemmas, where there can be no Antigones. Perry rejects this as an illusion. Disputes like the culture wars cannot be adequately comprehended as border encroachments presided over by an impartial judge. Instead, theo-political conflict must be considered a contest of loyalties within each citizen and believer. Drawing on critics of Rawls ranging from Michael Sandel to Stanley Hauerwas, Perry identifies what he calls a 'turn to loyalty' by those who recognize the inadequacy of our usual thinking on the public place of religion. The Pretenses of Loyalty offers groundbreaking analysis of the overlooked early work of Locke, where liberalism's founder himself opposed toleration. Perry discovers that Locke made a turn to loyalty analogous to that of today's communitarian critics. Liberal toleration is thus more sophisticated, more theologically subtle, and ultimately more problematic than has been supposed. It demands not only governmental neutrality (as Rawls believed) but also a reworked political theology. Yet this must remain under suspicion for Christians because it places religion in the service of the state. Perry concludes by suggesting where we might turn next, looking beyond our usual boundaries to possibilities obscured by the liberalism we have inherited.

The Limits of Tolerance
The Limits of Tolerance

Author: Denis Lacorne

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0231547048

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The modern notion of tolerance—the welcoming of diversity as a force for the common good—emerged in the Enlightenment in the wake of centuries of religious wars. First elaborated by philosophers such as John Locke and Voltaire, religious tolerance gradually gained ground in Europe and North America. But with the resurgence of fanaticism and terrorism, religious tolerance is increasingly being challenged by frightened publics. In this book, Denis Lacorne traces the emergence of the modern notion of religious tolerance in order to rethink how we should respond to its contemporary tensions. In a wide-ranging argument that spans the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian republic, and recent controversies such as France’s burqa ban and the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, The Limits of Tolerance probes crucial questions: Should we impose limits on freedom of expression in the name of human dignity or decency? Should we accept religious symbols in the public square? Can we tolerate the intolerant? While acknowledging that tolerance can never be entirely without limits, Lacorne defends the Enlightenment concept against recent attempts to circumscribe it, arguing that without it a pluralistic society cannot survive. Awarded the Prix Montyon by the Académie Française, The Limits of Tolerance is a powerful reflection on twenty-first-century democracy’s most fundamental challenges.