Spinoza and the Theory of Active Tolerance

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-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 languageEnglish
Article number1
JournalPolitical Theory
Volume41
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)687-709
ISSN0090-5917
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2013

    Research areas

  • Spinoza, Marcuse, tolerance, affect, religious pluralism, hijab

ID: 135574486