Spinoza and the Theory of Active Tolerance
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review
This paper considers the politics of tolerance through the lens of Spinoza’s philosophy of immanence. The contention is that Spinoza’s philosophy of immanence provides us with a better conceptualization of the relationship between tolerance and power, and that it in so doing reinvigorates a theory of active tolerance that, for the most part, has been lost in contemporary democratic theory. Spinoza’s philosophy of immanence does so because it animates a sensorial orientation to politics, one that heightens our attention to the affective components of political life, enabling us to better theorize how all modes of existence, including the so-called passive ones, harbor a degree of power that can be mobilized for purposes that go beyond the “non-practice” highlighted by advocates and critics of tolerance in contemporary democratic theory. The paper develops this argument with ongoing reference to Marcuse’s critique of tolerance.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 1 |
Journal | Political Theory |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 5 |
Pages (from-to) | 687-709 |
ISSN | 0090-5917 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2013 |
- Spinoza, Marcuse, tolerance, affect, religious pluralism, hijab
Research areas
ID: 135574486