In 2017, Yonatan Zunger published his essay, "Tolerance is not a moral precept" in which he said:
"Tolerance is not a moral absolute; it is a peace treaty. ... [And] the model of a peace treaty differs from the model of a moral precept in one simple way: the protection of a peace treaty only extends to those willing to abide by its terms.
It is an agreement to live in peace, not an agreement to be peaceful no matter the conduct of others."
The title of this essay should disturb you. We have been brought up to believe that tolerating other people is one of the things you do if you’re a nice person — whether we learned this in…
When discussing Zunger's article (tolerance as a peace treaty, and thus not a paradox), several people in the discussion were confused by the idea of a "peace treaty" between members of their own society.
The idea of a social contract made more sense to them. And the discussion inspired me to create the following meme:
![Meme titled The Paradox of Tolerance with text on the left and an image of the book "The Open Society and its Enemies" on the right.
The text reads:
Less well known [than other paradoxes] is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
—In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols.
We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
~Excerpt from philosopher Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies, published 1945](https://keybored.me/photo/preview/640/994120 "Meme titled The Paradox of Tolerance with text on the left and an image of the book \"The Open Society and its Enemies\" on the right.
The text reads:
Less well known [than other paradoxes] is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.
—In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols.
We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
~Excerpt from philosopher Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies, published 1945")
Zhi Zhu 🕸️
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️ • • •#Paradox #KarlPopper #Meme
Zhi Zhu 🕸️
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️ • • •"Tolerance is not a moral absolute; it is a peace treaty.
...
[And] the model of a peace treaty differs from the model of a moral precept in one simple way:
the protection of a peace treaty only extends to those willing to abide by its terms.
It is an agreement to live in peace,
not an agreement to be peaceful no matter the conduct of others."
~Yonatan Zunger
https://extranewsfeed.com/tolerance-is-not-a-moral-precept-1af7007d6376
Tolerance is not a moral precept - Extra Newsfeed
Yonatan Zunger (Extra Newsfeed)Zhi Zhu 🕸️
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️ • • •The idea of a social contract made more sense to them. And the discussion inspired me to create the following meme:
#Meme #Paradox #Tolerance
Zhi Zhu 🕸️
in reply to Zhi Zhu 🕸️ • • •If someone does not abide by the terms of the contract, then they are not covered by it.
In other words: The intolerant are not following the rules of the social contract of mutual tolerance.
Since they have broken the terms of the contract, they are no longer covered by the contract, and their intolerance should NOT be tolerated.
[inspired by “Tolerance is not a moral precept”]