February 26, 2009
Dr. Goold set up his talk against the backdrop of a modern religious example of FalseTolerance. Pastor Mark Driscoll posts youtube videos of his sermons and this one was The Tolerance Rant.
Dr. Goold gave definitions of things that he referred to often so that the members of the audience could have a small working knowledge of the vocabulary he used. The first was Philosophy, which is "thinking about how we think about things". In the scope of the talk he discussed "how to think about tolerance...arguments for tolerance," and he made central the argument that "none of these arguments can persuade those at whom they are directed," and they can possibly "be demoralizing to them". Secondly, he defined Religion in the context of his talk as "those whose followers see themselves as led by divine will...fulfilling the will of God with respect to the present life," Pastor Driscoll being the present day example. Finally, Tolerance was the last definition, which is "a position possessed by human beings; how we cope with others".
The central question which arose from this information was "To what extent is patience for the opinions or practices of others a virtue?"
Dr. Goold argued that "we should not be tolerant of indifference based on naive relativism" and that there are different levels of toleration; inquisitive, mutual indifference, pluralistic, and pragmatic. Attached to pragmatic toleration is prophetic scientism.
He arrived at the conclusion based on the definitions and challenges against these different types of toleration that, "one must engage the argument of one's interlocutor...one cannot argue for a premise the interlocutor won't accept". "Denying in advance a claim, leaves no room for dialogue. Toleration should at least argue with rather than at one another". In practicing proper communication within the vocabulary of the other interlocutor the goal is to gain "growth and mutual understanding of our own opinions". We must question ourselves as well and our beliefs. It does not mean that you do not have to hold on to truths, but we should "be aware of the whispers of a better world". In practice this is our "conscientious toleration of each others intolerance".
To answer the central question, Dr. Goold stated that "patience is a virtue only when it is in the service of truth".
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