Hat Europa noch eine gemeinsame Agenda? Wie sehen heute die Perspektiven für eine transnationale Demokratie in Europa aus? Welche sind überhaupt die Werte Europas? Was stellen wir zur Debatte, was nicht? Welche Rolle spielt Toleranz künftig im Streit um die Einwanderungsgesellschaft – und welche Toleranz meinen wir damit eigentlich? Was zeichnet den sogenannten „europäischen Sonderweg“ welthistorisch aus? Welche Implikationen sind perspektivisch in Zeiten der Globalisierung damit verbunden? Begleitend zu der Ausstellung „Europa – Erbe der Humanisten“, die durch Schweden tourt, blickt das Goethe-Institut auf die Schlüsselfragen und Herausforderungen, mit denen sich Europa derzeit konfrontiert sieht. Die Idee dabei ist, die Kontinuität des europäischen Wertekanons in gegenwärtigen Diskursen neu zu diskutieren und dadurch zu stärken. Der Vortrag/Gespräch ist Teil der Veranstaltungsreihe „Reloaded! European Values“ des Goethe-Instituts.

Dr. Volker Heins:
We live in times in which many people who are deeply concerned about the rising intolerance toward stigmatized groups such as migrants nevertheless reject the language of tolerance as patronizing, depoliticizing and morally flawed.
Among political philosophers from Herbert Marcuse to Wendy Brown, there is a broad consensus that toleration is a highly ambiguous attitude and a questionable political principle. Toleration is criticized for being both unjust and unstable. Instead of toleration, mutual recognition is championed as a more appropriate democratic ideal. This paper argues that demands of recognition, when overstretched, become incompatible with the growing pluralization of liberal immigration societies. Beyond the social contributions and moral qualities which deserve recognition, there is also a wide range of attitudes and practices which, depending on the perspective, ought to be tolerated even if they cannot be wholeheartedly accepted or embraced. Whereas theories of recognition are often marked by their orientation to harmony – Axel Honneth’s concept of social freedom is a case in point –, theories of toleration are relevant for more realistic thinkers who believe that in fractured societies modus vivendi settlements are sometimes to be preferred to the futile search for a universal consensus. The paper therefore argues for a concept of toleration that cannot be entirely reduced to recognition. Moreover, it discusses two alternative ideals of interaction beyond the opposition of toleration vs. recognition: civil indifference and sympathetic understanding.

Der Vortrag findet in englischer Sprache statt.