Tolerance is a difficult virtue to be exercised. However, democratic societies depend on that virtue every time moral conflicts divide citizens committed to irreconcilable views on life. The article's first goal is to present an analytical model for tolerance as a determined moral value - against instrumental views of value. Its second goal is to demonstrated that, differently from the classical liberal argument in which the duty to tolerate is justified by the value of personal autonomy, it is possible to construct a theory of tolerance based on political reciprocity among equals in citizenship.
tolerance; justice; liberal impartiality; autonomy