Toleration in Comparative Perspective

Vicki A. Spencer is associate professor of political theory at the University of Otago.

• Introduction, by Vicki A. Spencer Part I: The WestChapter 1: William of Ockham and Medieval Discourses on Toleration, by Takashi ShogimenChapter 2: The Metaphysics of Toleration in American Indian Philosophy, by Scott L. PrattChapter 3: Human Fallibility and Locke’s Doctrine of Toleration, by Vicki A. SpencerChapter 4: Pierre Bayle and Benjamin Constant on Toleration, by Ken TsutsumibayashiPart II: Southwest AsiaChapter 5: The Ottomans and Toleration, by Karen BarkeyChapter 6: Tolerance and Pluralism in Islamic Thought and Praxis, by Asma AfsaruddinPart III: South AsiaChapter 7: Tolerance in Nepal Mandala: Communal Relations and Royal Religious Patronage in Malla-Era Kathmandu, by Anne MockoChapter 8: The One in the Many in the Songs of Poet-saints of Medieval India: A Cultural Stance on Tolerance, by Neelima Shukla-BhattChapter 9: The Limits of Intolerance: A Comparative Reflection on India’s Experiment with Tolerance, by Purushottama BilimoriaChapter 10: The Tolerations of Theravad

Vicki A. Spencer has brought together a distinguished group of scholars from across the globe with the shared aim of challenging the complacent view held by many contemporary philosophers that the idea of toleration is a wholly modern phenomenon, founded on liberalism and distinctively Western in origin. The contributors disrupt these assumptions by means of careful examination of writings reflecting a broad range of intellectual traditions, including Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Native American thought, as well as unappreciated Western sources of tolerant principles. These authors collectively reveal not only the limitations of modern Occidental chauvinism concerning tolerance, but also the conceptual strengths of alternative approaches to the philosophy of liberalism commonly regarded to be coextensive with the theory of toleration per se. Taken as a whole, this book represents a significant step forward in our understanding of the many possible paths that the defense of a tolerant respect for human diversity might follow.