I
think that what Ann and John are saying is correct. From a purely
philosophical point a view, there is no way to derive the value or
rule of tolerance from the facts of diversity or the meta-ethical
thesis of ethical relativism.
It seems to me that anyone who wants to argue for tolerance has to
do it within some ethical framework. Herskovits could have done that. And maybe, in effect, that is what he was doing when he
argued for tolerance. He was speaking mainly to people in the
United States and tacitly working within their moral framework.
Perhaps within that framework he was a successful advocate for
tolerance, although he may have thought he was doing something
different.
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