More than anything, diversity is what characterizes societies of the 21st century. Our contemporary societies are marked by ethnic, religious, racial, ideological, moral, and sexual diversity. Cultural, moral, and ideological pluralism is a fact of our lives. While some people see this phenomenon as a source of richness and thus welcome it, others feel threatened by it. Those who feel threatened have two options before them; they will either learn how to live with diversity or look for ways to suppress it. While, this latter option causes social conflict, the former ameliorates social conflict. This option is called "toleration."
Toleration: The Liberal Virtue is a defense of toleration as a remedy to societal conflict caused by differences. It examines four prominent grounds of toleration: skepticism, prudence, autonomy, and conscience which are illustrated through the works of four pioneering liberals, namely, Michel de Montaigne, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Pierre Bayle, respectively.

Bican Sahin is associate professor of political science at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.

1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Chapter 2 1. INTRODUCTION
Chapter 3 2. SKEPTICISM AND TOLERATION: THE CASE OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
Chapter 4 3. PRUDENCE AND TOLERATION: THE CASE OF JOHN LOCKE
Chapter 5 4. AUTONOMY AND TOLERATION: THE CASE OF JOHN STUART MILL
Chapter 6 5. CONSCIENCE AND TOLERATION: THE CASE OF PIERRE BAYLETHE DEFENDER OF CONSCIENCE: PIERRE BAYLE
Chapter 7 6. TWO VERSIONS OF LIBERALISM AND THEIR POSITIONS ON TOLERATION
Chapter 8 7. CONCLUSION
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY