ABSTRACT
In the chapter I take up the question of the idea of tolerance and of its functioning in the democratic state based on the ideas of social dialogue and equality. I discuss the comments on this issue by Jacques Derrida and Jürgen Habermas as they appear in the book Philosophy in a Time of Terror edited by Giovanna Borradori. In my opinion the weak point of Derrida’s thesis is that it is supported by the selective choice of examples that in his view justify it (i.e., the Edict of Nantes). Habermas, on the contrary, ignores the fact that his concept of the “collective subject” who obeys the universal nature of democratic law and regulation is a theoretical fiction. The legal systems of the democratic states contain always a number of regulations that, while being determined by the ideas and values of given cultural tradition, are often at odds with the principle of equality and reciprocity. My conclusion is that the democratic state has to rely on the possibly wide formula of these principles, at the same time setting clearly the limits for its tolerance.
