The essays collected here, in this forty-eighth volume of NOMOS, emerged from the annual meeting of the American Society of Political and Legal Philosophy (ASPLP) in Atlanta on January 2 and 3 of 2004, which was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. Our topic, “Toleration and Its Limits,” was selected by the Society’s membership.
The current volume includes revised versions of the principal papers delivered at that conference by David Heyd, Steven D. Smith, and Ingrid Creppell. It also includes essays that developed out of the original commentaries on those papers by Glyn Morgan, Rainer Forst, Kathryn Abrams, Andrew Sabl, Glen Newey, and Noah Feldman. Jeremy Waldron and I extend our sincere thanks to each of these authors for the thoughtfulness of their original contributions, their work in revising the pieces for publication, and their patience through all the delays in bringing this volume to press.
Toleration has a rich tradition in Western political philosophy. Much of the discussion at the conference recurred to this tradition in exploring the philosophical nuances of the concept of toleration and the scope and limits of toleration in contemporary liberal democratic societies. In order to make explicit the debt of contemporary philosophical reflection to that tradition, we solicited a number of additional essays for the present volume that revisit some of the tradition’s key figures. We are grateful to Michael A. Rosenthal, Alex Tuckness, Rainer Forst, and Glyn Morgan for writing the original—and very illuminating—studies of Spinoza, Locke, Bayle, and John Stuart Mill that appear here. Many thanks as well to Jeremy Waldron for his provocative piece on Hobbes, which fills out the historical section of the volume.
Toleration is a principle that has become so fixed a feature of liberal democracy that we are in danger of embracing it too uncritically. We therefore also thought it salutary to include a piece that takes a more critical perspective on the concept of toleration and its usage in political discourse. Wendy Brown’s powerful analysis helps to remind us of some of the dark side of toleration, and we want to express our appreciation for her willingness to contribute it to this volume.
There are other dimensions of the theory and practice of toleration that deserve scholarly attention. In particular, we are conscious of the non-Western traditions of toleration, especially in Islam, Buddhism, and Confucianism, which it would have been revealing to juxtapose to the Western tradition represented here. But New York University Press has already been more than generous in allowing us to publish as many pieces as are included here, and so we have to hope that the worthy project of developing such a comparative study of toleration will soon find its champion.
The editors at New York University Press, and particularly Gabrielle Begue, Ilene Kalish, and Despina Papazoglou Gimbel, have been unfailingly supportive of this volume and of the NOMOS series despite frustrating delays in production. On our own behalf and on behalf of the Society, we wish to express our deep gratitude for the Press’s ongoing support for the series and the tradition of interdisciplinary scholarship that it represents.
We also wish to thank the officers of the ASPLP for their leadership and loyalty to the NOMOS series. In particular, Jacob Levy, its Secretary-Treasurer, has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to our joint enterprise. He is an exemplar of the professionalism, responsibility, care, and intellectual engagement that has sustained the ASPLP for its fifty years. All of us who are affiliated with NOMOS and the ASPLP owe him a profound debt of gratitude for much more than his excellent fiscal management.
As Managing Editor, Genevieve Fuji Johnson also bears a vast share of the responsibility for keeping the NOMOS series alive and in good health. Her organizational skill, good judgment, efficiency, and keen intelligence have been crucial to every stage of the process, from organizing the conference to offering editorial input to preparing the manuscript for publication. Were it not for her dedicated work—which she has carried out through the completion of her doctorate and into her appointment as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University—we would be much further behind with the series. It is a privilege to work with her.
Rinku Lamba, who is completing her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Toronto, has also provided critical assistance during the production phase of the volume. Many thanks are due to her as well. Thanks also to Tobold Rollo for preparing the index.
Finally, I want to express my personal debt of gratitude to Jeremy Waldron. In taking on the role of co-organizer of the conference and co-editor of this volume, he may have been more generous than he initially intended despite his generous nature. His wealth of knowledge, critical eye, even-handedness, and lively intelligence have all made it a delight to work with him throughout; and his patience and magnanimity have been a great personal support as we finally brought the volume to a close.
MELISSA S. WILLIAMS
Toronto, April 2007