ABSTRACT

This chapter begins by describing what liberality is and discussing its demands. Liberality is a necessary virtue to accommodate the various mentalities that make up current social and cultural pluralism. It is a fully appropriate virtue for the heterogeneities that characterize contemporary culture, which seems like a world of eccentrics. The chapter then discusses the difference between tolerance and liberality. There is a sort of freedom that consists of being exonerated from the obligation of manifesting as an individual. Liberals respect this freedom essentially because they do not claim to establish a norm that would determine the protocols of what is correct and what is the exception. Liberals know that their opinions and actions instill a special value in things, but they will not attempt to evade their own particularity by presenting themselves as heralds of universality. The chapter concludes by summarizing the political benefits of liberality.