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Colloquium: Professor Nicholas Jolley (UCI)
Title: "The Beams of Locke's Building: His Arguments for Religious Toleration"
In reply to a critic Locke insists that his defense of religious toleration is a building that is supported by several beams.
Such a claim is in striking contrast to Jeremy Waldron's interpretation of Locke's case: in an influential essay Waldron claims that Locke has only one argument for religious toleration, a flawed argument from the involuntariness of belief. In this paper I seek to vindicate Locke's own account of his argumentative strategy. I show that Locke argues for toleration from the function of the state and from the impossibility of knowledge with regard to revealed religion; I also show how Locke's argument from the involuntariness of belief does not succumb to Waldron's objections. A major aim of the paper is to suggest that Locke's concern with the defense of religious toleration throws a flood of light on his epistemological project in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Such a claim is in striking contrast to Jeremy Waldron's interpretation of Locke's case: in an influential essay Waldron claims that Locke has only one argument for religious toleration, a flawed argument from the involuntariness of belief. In this paper I seek to vindicate Locke's own account of his argumentative strategy. I show that Locke argues for toleration from the function of the state and from the impossibility of knowledge with regard to revealed religion; I also show how Locke's argument from the involuntariness of belief does not succumb to Waldron's objections. A major aim of the paper is to suggest that Locke's concern with the defense of religious toleration throws a flood of light on his epistemological project in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
4000 Humanities Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697
Philosophy Jun 2 2017 | 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM HIB 55