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Toleration, Pluralism, and Truth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Mordecai Roshwald
Mordecai Roshwald*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota

Abstract

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This paper deals with three guiding principles of contemporary Western civilization. It explores the compatibility of Toleration, Pluralism and Truth, as well as their application to diverse domains of cultural activity and creation. There is no place for toleration, let alone pluralism, in the realm of logic and mathematics. Scientific conclusions allow diverse degrees of certainty. The realm of monotheistic religions excludes pluralism, but necessitates toleration. The domains of ethics and its related social institutions allow diversity in secondary matters, but essentially should be guided by universally valid principles. In the case of aesthetics, a diversity of taste suggests a virtually unlimited pluralism. Yet, a universal basic principle of aesthetic evaluation is suggested which would greatly reduce tolerable pluralism, although this assertion is made with less confidence than the insistence on basic norms in ethics.

Type
Articles
Information
Diogenes , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , August 2008 , pp. 25 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2008

References

Aristotle (2004) The Nicomachean Ethics, ed. Thomson, J. A. K. / Tredennick, Hugh. New York /London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Locke, John (1689) A Letter Concerning Toleration. London: Churchill.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart (1859) On Liberty. London: Parker and Son.Google Scholar
Plato, (2001) Dialogues, ed. Jowett, B. / Kaplan, Justin D.. New York: Washington Square Press.Google Scholar