In the increasingly divided political and social landscape that surrounds us today, the idea of tolerance seems to be more relevant than ever. Beyond the acrimonious debates on migration, hate speech, impeachment, or religious symbols in public places, the ideal of tolerance offers the vision of a social order that accommodates diversity while preserving common principles that bind citizens together. But are there limits to tolerance? Are there circumstances when free speech should be curtailed? What should be done when extremist voices threaten the very order tolerance is founded upon? How do social media and digital threats to privacy change the terms of the debate on hate speech and tolerance? What can history teach us about the conditions needed to build a tolerant society?
Denis Lacorne, Professor of History at Sciences Po and author of The Limits of Tolerance: Enlightenment Values and Religious Fanaticism (CUP, 2019), and Bernard E. Harcourt, Professor of Law and Political Science at Columbia University and author of The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens (Basic Books, 2018), will draw on their research and experience to debate what tolerance means today.
Event co-sponsored by: Maison Française, Alliance Program, Columbia University Press, the European Institute, CCCCT and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life.