Philosophy

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Three components of Tolerance

Acceptance- this is where negative judgement is not removed, but there are certain positive reasons that trump the negative reasons in the relevant context of tolerating such as beliefs, actions and practices.

Objection- the tolerated BAPs should be considered to be objectionable and importantly, seen as wrong or bad.

Rejection- the tolerant party must have the power to reject the BAPs of the tolerated party.

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Rainer Forst

Tolerance is the conditional acceptance of a non-interference with beliefs, actions or practices (BAPs) that one considers wrong but still tolerabele such that they should not be prohibited or constrained. 

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Example 1

Ed Dobson’s quotation is about him being tolerant to homosexuality and how he agrees with the bible quotation- ‘Man should not lie with man for that is detestable’. This proves him to be a tolerant individual as he sees homosexuality to be wrong down to his religious- this could be referred to as the objection component, he accepts that everyone is able to love who they wish whether male or female and the point of rejection is that he doesn’t NEED to accept it (therefore he could not accept it), but he does. So therefore, he has the ability not to accept the BAPs.

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Example 2

University admissions can reject a candidate’s application. This will mean that the candidate will know that they cannot attend the Uni. But if there is only objection without action, then the candidate may still be allowed to attend- if they are accepted.

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Indulgence, Weakness and Indifference

If a person is weak, than it means that they are lacking the power to reject what is happening to them. For example if Terrence is being bullied, then he is not tolerant of the bullying, but he is not rejecting the bullying, he just lacks the power to fight against the bullying.

Indulgence is when there is absolutely no objection to it, but there is an ability to reject and accept. For example a child is being indulged when their father persistently offers him cookies when the child asks, although the father is aware that it is unhealthy for a child to be indulged with cookies, the father doesn’t have any objections to perusing the child’s want. However, he still has a right to reject the child’s want.

 Indifference is neither accepting, nor objecting to something. This is sometimes seen as tolerance- but tolerance requires a real interest in the topic. These three misconceptions are where people become confused with tolerance, but these three exceptions all miss one of the components which furthermore expresses that they are definitely not tolerance

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Objection component

When considering the objection component, a tolerant individual must find somethig morally wrong. This means that they attribute some moral nown to the example and find it wrong  in line with that moral structure. An example of this is that a christian thinks that anything that goes against God's natural law is wrong. Parts of the Bible suggest that God Condemns Homosexual: therefore homosexuality is a sin and is morally wrong. This is the type of objection that we are intersted in. Furthermore (and very importantly) the objection must be rational (justified by their moral structure).

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State of Nature

The State of Nature is a hypothetical condition of mankind that preceeded government. This means that there was a hypothetical time when humans were not run by a government, when we lived happily without a leader to govern us. 

John Locke

  • Men are free to order their own actions. 
  • Humans are rational beings and want to exist freely, so will avoid war if possible for humans to exist in a State of Nature. 
  • This rationability could lead to a social contract.

Thomas Hobbes

  • All humans are cruel, small and solitary. 
  • Humans are by nature, selfish (self interested). Therefore life in a State of Nature is cruel, solitary and brutish. 
  • Humans self interested nature leads to a war of all against all in a State of Nature. 
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Social Contract

Social contract theory- contracts are agreements between two or more parties/persons. It is the theory that humans can mutually benefit when agreeing a contract with eachother. 

Social contract is made by putting all powerful authority in plan, like a dictator. This means the contract is made out of fear, 

Hobbes says that we reach a social contract by creating some sort of mutual benefit with others, he calls this enlightended self interest. He puts a dictator in power and claims that this is the best way for people to be made to act reasonably. 

Locke says that we are naturally move into a social contract. All that needs to be put in authority is a judge or a referee to guide and punish those who act unreasonably. 

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Legitimacy

Lawfulness by virtue of being authorized or in accordance with law.A legitimate child is a child whose parents are married at a time of the birth. 

Descriptively legitimacy, refers to people's beliefs about political authority and, political obligation.Weber said, political regime is legitimate means that its participants have certain beliefs or faith in regard to it: “the basis of every system of authority, and correspondingly of every kind of willingness to obey, is a belief, a belief by virtue of which persons exercising authority are lent prestige”. As is well known, Weber distinguishes among three main sources of legitimacy—understood as both the acceptance of authority and of the need to obey its commands.the normative concept of political legitimacy refers to some benchmark of acceptability or justification of political power or authority and—possibly—obligation. On the broadest view, legitimacy both explains why the use of political power by a particular body—a state, a government, or a democratic collective, for example—is permissible and why there is a pro tanto moral duty to obey its commands.

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