Tolerance

Tolerance is a good thing but it’s not the only good thing. It’s a virtue and virtues make demands upon us. These demands frequently come into conflict with each other. Figuring out how to balance these competing demands is what makes the moral life so exhilarating, fascinating, and hard.

The simpleminded, the fanatical, and the lazy have always found this complexity deeply annoying. They prefer to pretend that there is but one virtue in the moral universe. For some, it’s tolerance.

Regardless of the virtue, this strategy always ends in moral failure sooner or later. Even the Golden Rule has its problems: e.g., How can you love your neighbor like yourself if you hate yourself? What if your neighbor doesn’t want to be loved the way you love yourself?

There is no polestar that can guide you to safety through all of life’s rocky waters. Tolerance is but one of the virtues in the constellation of virtues that illuminate the night sky of the good life. If your moral compass is to be of any use, you’ll need to look up and see them all.