THE LIMITS OF TOLERANCE: COLLISIONS OF THE CANCEL CULTURE

PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSES OF WAR

Abstract

While philosophers have been studying the phenomenon of tolerance for quite a long time and fruitfully, cancel culture has aroused philosophical interest relatively recently. The article reveals the essential connection between the need to make exceptions to the tolerance guideline in order to achieve social justice and the appeal to the cancel culture as inherent in a modern democratic society, in which there are developed information and communication technologies and the corresponding power of influence of social networks. The ethical and social positions of both those who support the cancel culture and those against whom it is directed are analyzed. The need for an involved study of the situation of oppressed social groups is specified in order to achieve an epistemological position sufficient for adequate ethical judgments regarding the parties to the conflict in the situation of cancellation. It is revealed that the partial success of identity politics is due to the fact that it begins to use the cancel culture to stigmatize opponents and apply the principle of toxicity to those who are not direct perpetrators of a gross violation of social justice. It is proven that the cancel culture can excessively exceed the limits of tolerance and in this case cause a counter-reaction with the demand to cancel those who abuse the cancel culture. It is argued that within the framework of its justified and adequate application, not only does cancel culture act as an effective tool for restoring social justice, it is also capable of generating socially beneficial collective ecstatic states and facilitating the creation of constructive, emotionally rich shared experiences. There is noted that the cancel culture as a joint proactive public position contributes to the development of civil society and needs its institutionalization for its further normalization.