Discrimination on the basis of race, gender or other ascribed group affiliations or individual identities is an all too well-known phenomenon. International instruments are invoked and refined to alter this situation, but often to little avail. In the present volume, authors from across the globe explore the nature and forms of discrimination and seek to establish a new conceptual ground for addressing the issue.
Toleration is often advocated as a remedy for discriminatory practices. In contrast to tolerance, which is seen as an attitude, toleration implies an active engaging of difference. In this volume, several authors address the inherent complexities of the notion itself, not least the implication of asymmetry between the tolerant and the tolerated.
A central theme throughout the volume is the relative force of law and other areas of public concern in addressing the issues of both discrimination and toleration. From a wide range of legal, literary, anthropological, and philosophical perspectives, the authors also show how the role of the intellectual is vital in reshaping the discourse and in redirecting practices that may affirm the equal worth of all humans.