Toleration and Identity: Foundations in Early Modern
Thought. By Ingrid Creppell. New York: Routledge, 2003. 212p.
$75.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.
Sensual Philosophy: Toleration, Skepticism, and Montaigne's
Politics of Self. By Alan Levine. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books,
2001. 336p. $80.00 cloth, $26.95 paper.
Toleration has once again become a central focus of liberal theories
of justice. In recent years, many liberal theorists have put aside
foundational arguments about autonomy and equality in order to explore
directly how individuals with diverse identities and beliefs can live
together peacefully. Early modern proponents of liberalism were
similarly animated by concerns about identity and difference,
originally developing the modern concept of toleration amidst the
conflicts of the European wars of religion. In the works under review
here, Ingrid Creppell and Alan Levine admirably plumb the insights of
these authors in order to propose more fruitful ways for
conceptualizing toleration in our own times.