TOLERANCE, Christraj M.

TOLERANCE

 

"Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions". Tolerance means the capacity for or the practice or recognizing and respecting the beliefs or practices of others. The capacity to endure hardship or pain. The heart of tolerance is self-control. When we tolerate an activity, we resist our urge to forcefully prohibit the expression of activities that we find unpleasant.  More abstractly, toleration can be understood as a political practice aiming at neutrality, objectivity, or fairness on the part of political agents. These ideas are related in that the goal of political neutrality is deliberate restraint of the power that political authorities have to negate the life activities of its citizens and subjects. Related to toleration is the virtue of tolerance, which can be defined as a tendency toward toleration. Toleration is usually grounded upon an assumption about the importance of the autonomy of individuals. This assumption and the idea of toleration are central ideas in modern liberal theory and practice. The virtue of toleration is implicit in Socrates' method of allowing many diverse perspectives to be expressed. In seventeenth century Europe, the concept of tolerance was developed as liberal thinkers sought to limit the coercive actions of government and the Church. They argued that human beings are fallible and should have epistemic modesty. Further, an individual know his or her interests best  and requires tolerance by others in order to find the best way to live.

Tolerance is widely thought to be an essential element of a free society. Tolerance is a tolerating subject who has fundamentally different beliefs or values. Tolerance, however, is often used in a more positive, maximal sense to refer to respect, sympathy, and charity for persons holding view different from one's own. Tolerance is a policy of patient forbearance in the presence of something that is disliked or disapproval of. Why do we tolerate? We tolerate because we respect others and helping others to grow in a way and showing the right path to walk. It guides us to accept differences in a spirit of understanding and friendliness. It acts as a unifying factor as it promotes peace and harmony among people and thus fosters national integration. Tolerance gives endurance and self-mastery.