ABSTRACT
One of the main tenets of liberalistic ethics is its emphasis on tolerance. This chapter discusses a situation where a conflict between impersonal and personal moral claims generates a conflict between two ethical perspectives. Tolerance derives from respect for general rights to liberty, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Tolerance differs from approval and indifference in two important aspects. First, there is a component of disapproval in a tolerant attitude, and second, tolerance is connected with reasons for action in a way that approval and indifference are not. It needs to be emphasized that tolerance is an attitude. Attitudes are based on beliefs. A tolerant act belongs to the class of actions where a person lets an incident occur which he or she regards as a bad thing. A tolerant attitude must be justified on moral grounds. A traditional way morally to justify a tolerant attitude is to refer to the liberty of action of individuals.
