Dutch tolerance originated as commercial pragmatism later recast as moral virtue.

Evidence

In order to minimize sectarian friction, the Dutch adopted an attitude whereby the public square was shared on the understanding that each community would police itself. This approach was developed at a time when the Netherlands was one of the premier trading powers of the globe. The famous Dutch tolerance cannot be separated from the need to conduct business and host merchants from diverse cultures. A set of social views adopted initially for the commercial advantages they brought were turned by Dutch in more recent times into moral virtue. — Michael A. Reynolds and Thomas D. Grant, The Future of Europe and Its Muslims, 77

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: ‘Tolerance as trade infrastructure’ — how commercial necessity hardens into national self-image, and what happens when the merchant rationale disappears.
• DEEPTHINKING: Reframes a celebrated liberal value as an economic instrument that acquired a moral veneer — worth sitting with when judging any nation’s claimed virtues.