About Me

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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Tolerating the repressive

I see that this morning's Australian newspaper has a sensible editorial on extremist religious requirements in women's dress. Once again, we must tolerate a great deal in the name of religious freedom. Here, "tolerate" means "put up with" - i.e. decline to invoke the state's power of fire and sword. "Tolerate" does not mean something like "approve of" or welcome. Traditional religious views that demonise women's sexuality, require extreme kinds of sexual modesty, etc., may well be something we have no choice but to tolerate. At the same time, we can find them deplorable and certainly not grant them our respect. There is no contradiction here.

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