Difference and Dissent [Hardcover]

Cary J. Nederman (Editor, Contributor), John Christian Laursen (Editor, Contributor), Glenn Burgess (Contributor), Paul J. Cornish (Contributor), Kate Langdon Forhan (Contributor), E J. Furcha (Contributor), Stephen Lahey (Contributor), Gary Remer (Contributor), William Walker (Contributor), Simone Zurbuchen (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0847683753 | ISBN-13: 978-0847683758 | Publication Date: December 1996

This innovative collection points to the need for a reevaluation of the origins of toleration theory. Philosophers, intellectual historians, and political theorists have assumed that the development of the theory of toleration has been a product of the modern world, and John Locke is usually regarded as the first theorist of toleration. The contributors to Difference and Dissent, however, discuss a range of conceptual positions that were employed by medieval and early modern thinkers to support a theory of toleration, and question the claim that Locke's theory of toleration was as original or philosophically adequate as his adherents have asserted.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...this book offers important reformulations of tolerance. ...by demonstrating the broad array of theories of tolerance, this book opens promising paths of inquiry for political philosophy..... (Pascal Massie Albert E. Gunn And Staff )

Nederman shows that there is a wide 'diversity of intellectual frameworks that have generated viable defenses of toleration'. (Theolody Digest, Vol.45 N0. 3 Fall 1998 )

The overall contribution of Difference and Dissent is to recognize communitarian and natural law foundations of toleration theory and to encourage us to ask percislely whom a theorist is tolerating, whethers/he intends temporary concordance or permanent toleration and to whom the theorist is not extending toleration. (Horowitz, Maryanne Cline American Poilitical Science Review, Vo. 92, No.3, 1998 )

All the essays inDifference and Dissentare informative and intellectually stimulating. (Hilmar M. Pabel H-Net )

The editors of this collection of lively, interesting, and accessible essays are said to be congratulated on the coherence created by the common focus uniting the contributions. . . . This is clearly a quite different defence of toleration from that which makes free speech an inalienable individual right. . . . [offers] some alternatives to the conventional way of thinking about tolerance and [gives] us some practice in thinking about it in ways and contexts different fom the dominant modern narrative. (Ruth Abbey Journal Of Religious History )

This volume is a happy antidote to those who think that the discussion of toleration in the modern world starts with John Locke. This collection brings together eleven essays that discuss kinds of toleration theories from the middle ages through the seventeenth century in different cultures, indicating that the idea of toleration has a much richer and interesting history than we are usually told about. (Popkin, Richard H. )

...this book offers important reformulations of tolerance. ...by demonstrating the broad array of theories of tolerance, this book opens promising paths of inquiry for political philosophy. (Pascal Massie Albert E. Gunn And Staff )

These essays force us to acknowledge tha essential artificiality of all theories of tolerance, while at the same time encouraging us to choose whatever ideological matter and tools we need to promote tolerance as well as a sense of reponsibilty in our dealings with others. (Charles F. Briggs Journal Of Church And State, Vol. 40, No.3, Summer 1998 )

These 11 essays show that there is a wide 'diversity of intellectual frameworks that have generated viable defenses of toleration.' (Heiser )

These essays address the political issue of the millennium: how to ground a pluralist society. (Black, Antony Political Studies, Vol.44, No. 4, September 1998 )

...eleven essays which form a worthwhile addition to the now extensive literature on toleration before the Enlightenment. ...Glen Burgess in an excellent analysis of Hobbes's perspective on toleration... ...Lauren's own thought-provoking essay on Spinoza and his possible influence on Locke. (Diarmaid Macculloch Ehr, Apr. 1999 )

About the Author

Cary J. Nederman is associate professor of political science at the University of Arizona and the author of numerous books, including Community and Consent: The Secular Political Theory of Marsiglio of Paduas Defensor Pacis and Medieval Political Theory--A Reader: The Quest for the Body Politic, 1100-1400.

John Christian Laursen is associate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverdale. He is author of The Politics of Skepticism: in the Ancients, Montaigne, Hume, and Kant.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847683753
• ISBN-13: 978-0847683758
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,400,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read book on toleration, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Difference and Dissent (Hardcover)

If you need a book on theory of toleration whether political or religious, read books by Nederman and Laursen. You will always find them insightful and helpful.