Active Tolerance

In the following article, I argue against the pessimistic idea of the irresolvable conflict, against the great unwisdom that holds conflict to be an inevitable part of human societies. I attempt to lay out the most basic causes for conflict, and the kind of vigorous reasoning, debate and tolerance that is needed – practically speaking – to move beyond them.
Most political theories involve certain presuppositions. One of these is that there are conflicts that are more or less (...)

– “Promoting active tolerance is much less necessary than doing humanitarian work, supporting environmental causes or taking political action.”
One can easily recognize the necessity of humanitarian and environmental action. But does there exist causes which are inarguably good, with no ambiguity? Even humanitarian work has provoked numerous debates (see on this subject the works of Ronny Braumann); and furthermore there are dozens of important non-governmental organizations advocating (...)

From active tolerance to the creation of new tools in order to make participative democracy viable. An overview.
Active tolerance is not an end in itself, but a means:
—to calm the “clash of civilizations”
—to resolve through collective intelligence diverse problems—be they environmental, social or even philosophical.
This ambition may be broken down into three stages, connected but relatively independent.
1st Stage: Bringing together “free electrons”
It’s this task that has (...)

In this article, we are going to give examples of different types of activities that the members of a “community” of active tolerance. It could be objected that these activities “would take up too much time”, but in fact even a frequency of once or twice a month would be significantly beneficial. No minimum attendance, I need hardly say, would be imposed within the network.
Activities among the members To have the opportunity to speak of subjects close to your heart with open-minded (...)

In this article I envisage the internal aspects of the Network, technical questions like the admission of new participants, contributions, etc.
Creating a Network of Possibilities
Each individual could create a Network of Possibilities, whether he or she is in a big city or a small town… Obviously it is necessary to have a real culture about an active tolerance.
The creation of such a network would allow one to meet original, open-minded people, and to share one’s activities with (...)

Our world resembles a chaotic ocean. An ocean of messages, of worldly conceptions, of images, of discordant voices proclaiming their truths… We swim in the generalized confusion; the time of great models of univocal readings is over. All — whether the uniformity of the society of not so long ago, the monolithism of ideologies (right versus left, Catholics against communists), the rigidity of lifestyle standards —, all is being swept away. But is it to make way for the emergence of a (...)

What follows is the foundation of an open philosophy, responding to the challenges of the next century, and inspired by the methodology of Edgar Morin and the experience of the Network of Possibilities – a unique gathering of a few dozen people, in Paris in the 1980s. To my knowledge, this network has not had any equivalents since.
The Network of Possibilities was born from the convergence of two demands: to think (and act) after having considered all points of view, and to taste a (...)

Our society lives in fear of conflicts, so much so that it proclaims itself “tolerant”. In principle we accept all opinions, we walk alongside, but not see, one another, and we think this attitude of “Everyone’s entitled to their opinions” will guarantee us peace.
The Failure of Tolerance
In Europe we want to attain universal tolerance, but I fear that we are not on the right path. Our codes of political correctness — which, on the one hand, condemn writers who are supposed racist, (...)

“NETWORK MAN” – a Presentation
The Internet, tourism and immigration, satellite television, cosmopolitan cities: all these phenomena are converging to confront us with an unprecedented profusion of culture. This hodgepodge of philosophies, religions and lifestyles has lead to a juxtaposition of groups and milieus, each tending to shut itself off from the others. This has often resulted in crises of identity, and often in ideas of “cultural relativism” or simply skeptical indifference (...)

Who wants a “clash of civilizations” and war between all?
No one, and yet it is unlikely that we are moving toward a peaceful world, where dialogue and fraternity hold sway. We sense that the world is heading more toward tension than tolerance, and yet we aren’t able to stop this infernal course, despite the humanist declarations that are sounding from all quarters.
We wanted to wipe away intolerance with tolerance: but it was tolerance in the weak sense of the word – a passive (...)