German philosopher and author Rainer Forst discussed the intersections of religious and racial tolerance and democracy at Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at an event co-sponsored by the Baker Institute for Public Policy; Program on Politics, Law and Social Thought; Department of Philosophy; and the German Consulate General in Houston.
Religious and racial intolerance are severe social vices, but does that mean that tolerance is a virtue? For some, toleration is essential for a flourishing pluralistic democracy; for others, it is a predemocratic attitude and practice — in Goethe’s famous words, “an insult,” according to Forst. In his lecture, Forst discussed this ambivalence and argued for a particular democratic notion of tolerance.