Could Tolerance between Equals Exist? Some Critical Thoughts

Abstract

In the field of moral and political philosophy, it has been unanimously accepted that tolerance is a quality of the agent and it is tested in various circumstances. One of these circumstances refers to the capacity or the adequate competence of the agent to stop, deter or impede the act, which is the object of tolerance. In this context some authors, Ernesto Garzón among them, defend the thesis that such competence or capacity to tolerate does not necessarily require a hierarchical relationship between the tolerating and the tolerated agent. However, in this article the author, after analyzing the meaning of adequate “competence” or “capacity” and its relationship to the basic concept of tolerance (public or private), criticizes the above thesis and argues that tolerance can exist only in hierarchal relationships of supra and subordination.