Exploring Karl Popper’s paradox of tolerance and the limits of a free society.

Synopsis

(The focus paper is available to DOWNLOAD HERE) (https://www.manlitphil.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Toleration-Full-Version.pdf)

The word “toleration” derives from the Latin tolerare, which means to put up with, to countenance or to suffer.

In English usage it has to be directed towards behaviour or beliefs with which one is at variance; otherwise, it would merely count as agreement.

It also needs to be practiced voluntarily; were it to be compelled you would just be enduring that with which you disagreed.

It is a key tenet of Liberalism that beliefs or practices considered to be wrong can still be tolerable; and so, instead of being prohibited or constrained, they may be accepted without interference.

But this raises a problem, called the paradox of tolerance by philosopher Karl Popper in 1945:

If a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant will eventually be seized and destroyed by the intolerant.

It is this paradox that the paper seeks to address.

What to Expect

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Practical Details

(The focus paper (text only) is available to DOWNLOAD HERE (https://www.manlitphil.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Toleration-Text-Version.pdf))

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