Toleration and Freedom from Harm

Toleration matters to us all. It contributes both to individuals leading good lives and to societies that are simultaneously efficient and just. There are personal and social matters that would be improved by taking toleration to be a fundamental value. This book develops and defends a full account of toleration-what it is, why and when it matters, and how it should be manifested in a just society. Cohen defends a normative principle of toleration grounded in a new conception of freedom as freedom from harm. He goes on to argue that the moral limits of toleration have been reached only when freedom from harm is impinged. These arguments provide support for extensive toleration of a wide range of individual, familial, religious, cultural, and market activities. Toleration and Freedom from Harm will be of interest to political philosophers and theorists, legal scholars, and those interested in matters of social justice.

Andrew Jason Cohen is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgia State University, USA. He is the author of Toleration (2014).

Introduction Part I: Conceptual and Grounding Issues 1. What Toleration is Not 2. What Toleration Is 3. The Harm Principle and the Nature of Harm 4. General Defenses of Toleration 5. Freedom from Harm Part II: Normative Issues 6. The Harm Principle 7. Rejecting the Harm Principle: The Sovereignty Principle, Legal Moralism, Legal Paternalism 8. Toleration, Families, and Licensing 9. Toleration and Groups 10. Toleration Internationally Conclusion