ABSTRACT

Toleration matters to us all. It contributes both to individuals leading good lives and to societies that are simultaneously efficient and just. There are personal and social matters that would be improved by taking toleration to be a fundamental value. This book develops and defends a full account of toleration—what it is, why and when it matters, and how it should be manifested in a just society. Cohen defends a normative principle of toleration grounded in a new conception of freedom as freedom from harm. He goes on to argue that the moral limits of toleration have been reached only when freedom from harm is impinged. These arguments provide support for extensive toleration of a wide range of individual, familial, religious, cultural, and market activities. Toleration and Freedom from Harm will be of interest to political philosophers and theorists, legal scholars, and those interested in matters of social justice. 

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

part I|86 pages

Conceptual and Grounding Issues

chapter 1|12 pages

What Toleration Is Not

chapter 2|18 pages

What Toleration Is

chapter 3|21 pages

The Harm Principle and the Nature of Harm

chapter 4|15 pages

General Defenses of Toleration

chapter 5|18 pages

Freedom from Harm

part II|95 pages

Normative Issues

chapter 6|22 pages

The Harm Principle

chapter 7|14 pages

Rejecting the Harm Principle

The Sovereignty Principle, Legal Moralism, Legal Paternalism

chapter 8|22 pages

Toleration, Families, and Licensing

chapter 9|17 pages

Toleration and Groups

chapter 10|18 pages

Toleration Internationally

chapter |7 pages

Conclusion