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This course will investigate the concept of toleration, its importance but also its limits. We will start with a brief historical introduction, looking in particular at Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa and John Locke. These three exemplary figures illustrate how European thinkers tried to respond to the political-religious conflicts of their time, by using toleration as a means to engage with otherness in a peaceful manner while also emphasizing the limits of toleration. We will then proceed to examine different contemporary concepts of toleration, using the ideas of the political theorist Rainer Forst as a foundation. We will finish by looking at some contemporary philosophical reflections on the necessity of the limits of toleration by philosophers such as Habermas, Derrida, Kuçandi and Ricur.
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