On Toleration

Contributors: A.J. Ayer, Maurice Cranston, Lord Fitt, F.A. Hayek, Karl Popper, Lord Scarman, and Mary Warnock. Is toleration a requirement of morality or a dictate of prudence? What limits are there to toleration? What is required of us if we are to promote a truly tolerant society? These themes - the grounds, limits, and requirements of toleration - are central to this book, which presents the W. B. Morrell Memorial Lectures on Toleration, given between 1981 and 1987 at the University of York. The lectures cover a wide range of practical and theoretical issues. They consider the philosophical difficulties inherent in the concept as well as the practical problems of implementing a policy of toleration. Although the contributors differ in their conclusions about the grounds of toleration, they all share a belief in the importance of the concept both historically and in modern British society.