What is the “paradox of tolerance” and is it legit?

Question

What is the “paradox of tolerance” and is it legit?

In: 1208

Answer 1

The paradox of tolerance is the idea that, in order to be maximally tolerant, you must permit behavior that is not tolerant, resulting in an environment that is ultimately not tolerant.

This only a paradox if you think of tolerance as a *moral rule* rather than what it is, a social contract.

The social contract of tolerance is this: those that tolerate will be tolerated. You aren’t obligated to tolerate people that don’t obey the social contract themselves, and you have good reasons not to.