Abstract

Nowadays, tolerance and recognition are once more key words. However, talking about tolerance or recognition means talking about two different ways of doing justice to the conflicts of values that affect modern pluralistic societies. The essay suggests that an analytical distinction between tolerance and recognition may avoid the misunderstanding of two opposing perspectives that are both partial. Tolerance and recognition are regarded, on the one hand, as incompatible theoretical principles and, on the other hand, almost interchangeable or even equivalent ones. Therefore, the matter should be dealt with by taking into account possible practical applications rather than just on a theoretical basis.