Discourses of Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Enlightenment

The principle of tolerance is one of the most enduring legacies of the Enlightenment. However, scholarly works on the topic to date have been primarily limited to traditional studies based on a historical, 'progressive' view or to the critiques of contemporary writers such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Foucault, and MacIntyre, who believed that the core beliefs of the Enlightenment, including tolerance, could actually be used as vehicles of repression and control rather than as agents promoting individual and group freedom.This collection of original essays by a distinguished international group of contributors looks at the subject in a new light and from a number of angles, focusing on the concept of tolerance at the point where the individual, or group, converges or clashes with the state. The volume opens with introductory essays that provide essential background to the major shift in thinking in regard to tolerance that occurred during the eighteenth century, while considering the general problem of writing a history of tolerance. The remaining essays, organized around two central themes, trace the expansion of the discourses of tolerance and intolerance. The first group treats tolerance and intolerance in relation to the spheres of religious and political thought and practice. The second examines the extension of broad issues of tolerance and intolerance in the realms of race, gender, deviancy, and criminality. While offering an in-depth consideration of these complex issues in the context of the Enlightenment, the volume sheds light on many similar challenges facing contemporary society. The principle of tolerance is one of the most enduring legacies of the Enlightenment. However, scholarly works on the topic to date have been primarily limited to traditional studies based on a historical, 'progressive' view or to the critiques of contemporary writers such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Foucault, and MacIntyre, who believed that the core beliefs of the Enlightenment, including tolerance, could actually be used as vehicles of repression and control rather than as agents promoting individual and group freedom. This collection of original essays by a distinguished international group of contributors looks at the subject in a new light and from a number of angles, focusing on the concept of tolerance at the point where the individual, or group, converges or clashes with the state. The volume opens with introductory essays that provide essential background to the major shift in thinking in regard to tolerance that occurred during the eighteenth century, while considering the general problem of writing a history of tolerance. The remaining essays, organized around two central themes, trace the expansion of the discourses of tolerance and intolerance. The first group treats tolerance and intolerance in relation to the spheres of religious and political thought and practice. The second examines the extension of broad issues of tolerance and intolerance in the realms of race, gender, deviancy, and criminality. While offering an in-depth consideration of these complex issues in the context of the Enlightenment, the volume sheds light on many similar challenges facing contemporary society Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Contributors 9 Introduction 13 Prologue: Towards A Reconstruction Of The Discourse On Tolerance And Intolerance In The Age Of Enlightenment 29 Toleration And Ragion Di Stato: Jews And Protestants In The Savoyard State, Ca. 1650–1750 39 Locke And The Problem Of Toleration 65 Political Parties And The Legitimacy Of Opposition 85 Millenarianism And Tolerance 112 The Practice Of Religious Tolerance And Intolerance In Late Eighteenth-Century Württemberg 128 Jewish Emancipation In France In The Eighteenth Century 142 The Jewish Question In Eighteenth-Century Germany 156 Discrediting Slavery: From The Société Des Amis Des Noirs To The Haitian Revolution – Ideological Patterns And Anthropological Discourses 165 The Intolerable Other 182 Masculinity, Lunacy, And The Sexual Deviant 204 Extirpation And Toleration: Villain And Whore – Some Thoughts About The Toleration Of ‘Social Evil’ In Bourgeois Society 216 Index 243 Featuring an internationally renowned group of contributors, this volume looks at the concept of tolerance at the point where the individual, or group, converges or clashes with the state. Though it appears to provide grist for the mill of Enlightenment critics such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Foucault, and MacIntyre by confronting specific cases in which individual freedoms are forced to acquiesce to state control and authority in the guise of tolerance, the essays also offer a cautionary tale of critical restraint in the post-9/11 world. By reflecting on similar discrepancies in the interplay of discourses of tolerance and intolerance that inform our own lives, we recognize attempts to craft and apply theories and practices of toleration "The idea of tolerance is one of the most enduring legacies of the Enlightenment. However, there is a surprising lack of scholarly works that attempt to analyse the influence of tolerance on the individual during this period. This collection assesses, for the first time, the positive and negative impact of discourses and theories of tolerance upon the lives of individuals in eighteenth-century Europe With reference to gender preference, racial and social profiling, immigration policies, and the adjudication of borderland cultures and hybrid identities, this collection offers an in-depth examination of Enlightenment society and its parallels in the contemporary world."--Pub. desc