Tolerance and Dissent within Education

On Cultivating Debate and Understanding

Nuraan Davids, Yusef Waghid

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9783319581088
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319581095
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This book explores how the concept of tolerance might be understood, cultivated and enacted in and through educational encounters. It argues that by opening up educational encounters to allow for 'dissent' – that is, disagreement, criticism and open dialogue – our everyday social life experiences and relationships would flourish, and potentially allow for a more peaceful and harmonious co-existence alongside those with whom we disagree.  Dissent does not mean that 'anything goes'; what is needed is considerate and responsible recognition of distinct and diverse perspectives. Tolerance is sometimes regarded as a simple and uncritical celebration of difference, and sometimes dismissed as a necessary and resentful acceptance of others. Here, the authors make a compelling case for 'conditional tolerance', which requires us to continuously reflect on the limits of what we are willing to tolerate. The book will be an indispensable resource for researchers and students working in the areas of education, philosophy and sociology, particularly those with an interest in educational freedom, democracy and social justice. 

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• Contents
• 1: Revisiting Some Liberal Views on Tolerance
• 2: Educational Encounters and the Pursuit of Conditional Tolerance
• 3: On a Tolerance of Conscience: Toward Equal Respect in Educational Encounters
• 4: Respect, Liberty, Tolerance and Educational Encounters
• 5: Openness with Tolerance Through Educational Encounters
• 6: Modes of Disagreement, Tolerance and Educational Encounters
• 7: Friendship, Disruptive Educational Encounters and Tolerance
• 8: Judgment, Forgiveness, Tolerance and Educational Encounters
• 9: Inclusion/Exclusion, Tolerance and Educational Encounters
• 10: Cosmopolitanism, Tolerance and Educational Encounters
• Postscript: On a Tolerance of Kairos
• Index