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Matt Matravers
Lecturer in Political Philosophy and Director, Morrell Studies in Toleration, at the University of York. He was born in South Africa and educated mostly in England. He joined the Department of Politics at York from the London School of Economics and Political Science, from which he graduated in 1990 (B.Sc. Econ.) and 1994 (Ph.D.). He is the author of Justice and Punishment, Oxford University Press, 2000 and of a number of papers in political and moral philosophy. He is currently working on the problem of responsibility. 

Maxim Khomiakov
Doctor of Sciences, Actual Member of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Director, Ural Center For Advanced Studies and Education at Ural State University and Director, Institute of Toleration and Comparative Studies in World Civilizations both at Ural State University, Ekaterinburg, Russia. Associate professor (docent) and Deputy Dean, Department of Philosophy, Ural State University. He is the author of, among other, Deus ex machina: Rationalism i mysticism v philosophii obshego dela Fedorova (Rationalism and mysticism in the Fedorov’s "Philosophy of the Common Task"), Ekaterinburg, 1995; "Tolerantnost kak socio-kulturnaya problema" ("Toleration as a socio-cultural problem"), Sbornik materialov Zimney Shkoly Molodyh Uchenykh "Tolerantnost i nenasiliye: teoriya i mezhdunarodniy opyt", Chast 2, Ekaterinburg, UrGU-press, 2000; "Tolerance and contemporary civilization" (in Russian and English) in Tolerance, Ekaterinburg, UrGU-press, 2000; Problema tolerantnosti v christianskoy philosophii (The Problem of Toleration in Christian Philosophy), Ekaterinburg, UrGU-press, 2000.

Susan Mendus
Professor of Politics at the University of York. She was educated in Wales and at Oxford. She has been Morrell Fellow in Toleration, University of York, 1985-1991; Visiting Fellow, Advanced Study Centre, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, April, 1998; British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow, 1999-2000; and Visiting Fellow, Research School for Social Science, Australian National University, September - December 1997 and January - May 2000. Her publications include Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism, Macmillan, 1989; Feminism and Emotion, Macmillan, 2000; Impartiality in Moral and Political Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2002; and numerous papers in political and moral philosophy. She is currently working on political integrity.

The problem of multicultural and multiethnic states has become of increasing importance, nowhere more so than in Russia and in Eastern and Central Europe. Minority cultures and groups are increasingly making claims for autonomy, group rights and representation, and for toleration. Both politically and philosophically, this is now an urgent issue. This course aims to introduce students to the problems of multiculturalism and toleration in terms of both theory and practice. Furthermore, the aim is to examine and contrast the Russian and Western approaches to these problems. This will encompass both the history of the idea of toleration and its contemporary application to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The expected learning outcomes for participants include

This is an introductory course offered to junior faculty and advanced graduate students (mainly in political science and philosophy) interested in the problems of toleration and multiculturalism. Although there are no specific prerequisites, participants are required to read and understand papers prior to the course. Therefore, some general knowledge of recent political and moral philosophy is essential.

The course offers a combination of lectures and seminars, some including student presentations. The course will focus on analysis of argument. Participants are expected to take an active part in the discussions.

 If possible, the organisers intend to run e-mail discussion forums before and after the course. This will depend on the capacity of students to take part.

Assessment will be by a combination of methods: evaluation of performance in seminars; an essay submitted after the close of the face-to-face course in Budapest; and the development of a sample syllabus also submitted after the close of the course.

The aim of the course is to consider the problems raised by the demands of tolerance and multiculturalism. Tolerance is a key virtue in the development of free and open societies, but such societies also depend on limiting tolerance. The increasing self-awareness of minority cultural and ethnic groups has led to an increase in demands for group rights, autonomy, and even secession. In this course, we will consider the history of the concept of toleration and its current application to these problems, looking at and comparing the Anglo-American and Eastern approaches to the issues raised. Such issues are increasingly becoming the focus of courses in Higher Education in CEE/fSU. Our aim is to provide the foundations for such courses. This is, then, a philosophical course with immediate and urgent practical import.

The course will consist of three interrelated themes (the theory of toleration; its application; a comparative analysis). Each will be led by one scholar, but with the participation of the others as appropriate. In cases where the explicit theme is to compare different approaches the lectures and seminars will be jointly taught. In this way we hope to gain maximum advantage from having gathered together leading experts in their respective fields.