De Tocqueville

Question 1

What was the background behind Tocqueville’s Democracy in America?

Answer 1

• ) Was supposed to be a study about America’s penal system but he really wanted to examine democracy.
• ) Contains 2 Volumes
• ) He’s One Generation Removed From The French Revolution
• ) He’s writing for a French Audience and believes that a great democratic revolution is sweeping the west and aristocracies will fall apart.
• ) Democracy is Inevitable
• ) Examining America Because It Is the Most Advanced Democracy in the Sense That It Has Never Had an Aristocracy.

Question 2

What is the new social order Tocqueville realizes is coming about?

Answer 2

-) The death of the aristocratic mind and the birth of the new democratic mind.

Question 3

How Does de Tocqueville define democracy?

Answer 3

• ) Democracy = “equality of conditions”

- ) It is the primary generative fact of America

Question 4

How does de Tocqueville define aristocracy?

Answer 4

-) Aristocracy = a hierarchy where social mobility is highly limited

Question 5

How does de Tocqueville treat the concept of Democracy in Volume 1?

Answer 5

• ) He recognizes that Democracy is a system that has strengths and weaknesses just like any other system
• ) He wants to instruct Democracy, if possible, to maximize its good qualities and minimize its natural weaknesses
• ) He also wants to create a “new science” for a “new world”
• ) We must guide democracy as a father guides his children.

Question 6

Why is de Tocqueville worried about the souls of people in a democratic society?

Answer 6

• ) In an Aristocratic society, glory is the goal and it is directly tied to martial achievement. Thus, the pressure is, where available, somewhat upward. (Where social mobility actually exists of course.)
• ) In a Democratic society, there is instead a downward pressure to equalize in the sense that those who stand out are pushed down to the level of everyone else.

Question 7

What does de Tocqueville conclude about the benefit of democracy?

Answer 7

• ) There is less misery as the bottom rises and the elite are brought lower.
• ) There is more general prosperity and peace.
• ) Commerce Ends Up Replacing Martial Achievement

Question 8

Contrast the state of religion and freedom in the United States and Europe.

Answer 8

• ) In Europe, the Spirit of Religion and Freedom Were At Odds
• ) In America, the Spirit of Freedom and Religion Have Been Combined.
• ) The Puritans Have Exerted a Vast Influence on America in this sense. (Look at the nascent child to find the man. Thus, look at the nascent character to find the nation.)

Question 9

Describe the dichotomy the Puritans helped form in America.

Answer 9

1) Religion Circumscribes All of the Endeavors in America (It Provides the Outer Limits of Freedom)
2) Boundlessness Describe America in Terms of Its Limitless Potential in Terms of Geography and Ideals

Question 10

What is the choice de Tocqueville argues people have to make?

Answer 10

1) Equality in Servitude (Possible According to Hobbes)

2) Equality in Freedom

Question 11

Which way are people naturally inclined according to de Tocqueville?

Answer 11

Equality in Servitude. The risk in a democracy age is that people will exchange freedom for equality and that, when freedom and equality are opposed, people will choose equality.

Question 12

How does de Tocqueville view the progression of equality?

Answer 12

As people become closer to being equal, even the smallest differences become more and more intolerable.

Question 13

Define federalism in terms of de Tocqueville.

Answer 13

-) The federal system that combines the advantages of local government with broad strength.

Question 14

What type of people does de Tocqueville see Americans as and what do they use to solve their problems?

Answer 14

• ) de Tocqueville sees Americans as associational and that they solve their problems via association.
• ) Newspapers are a form of association that Americans have. They are not controlled with a high barrier to entry and government censorship like they are in France. In America, you can just start a newspaper.
• ) This habituation to association is crucial to democracy.
• ) In an Aristocracy, the nobility is a natural check on the power of the king.
• ) In a Democracy, the central government interacts with the people directly without a buffer. The buffer has to be supplied via the associations acting as an artificial aristocracy of sorts.
• ) This habit of association is a byproduct of the salutary neglect practiced in America.

Question 15

What are the three classes de Tocqueville identifies in society and how do each view taxes?

Answer 15

1) Rich - The rich won’t mind high taxes because they have so much.
2) Middle Class - They will hate taxes and in a democratic nation made up of the middle class, the taxes will be low.
3) Lower Class (Non-Property Owners) - In a propertyless (Proletariat) democracy, high taxes will be requested so that the Lower Class can reap the benefits without the cost.

Question 16

What class does de Tocqueville say not really exist in America?

Answer 16

Proletarians (Lower Class).

Question 17

How does de Tocqueville view freedom?

Answer 17

• ) It is dangerous to give nations without political freedoms political freedom suddenly. Although this is often necessary.
• ) Political freedom is not natural, but is instead an art.
• ) While the circumstances a people are in (geographical and political. Thing material things.) matter, the unwritten constitution or mores are what are determinative.

Question 18

What is surprising to de Tocqueville about Americans?

Answer 18

• ) Americans are active and constantly chasing the horizon.
• ) They are restless and always moving.
• ) Compare this to the Odyssey and Odysseus trying constantly to get home.

Question 19

Which part of the federal system does de Tocqueville believe hold primacy?

Answer 19

The states. He goes so far to remark that the only way that the citizens of America interact with the federal government is through the post office.

Question 20

What two institutions does de Tocqueville argue stabilize America?

Answer 20

1) The Lawyer Class - In an age tending towards equality, it is easy to look forward and forget the past entirely. The law, in contrast, is all about looking at the past and the precedent established therein. Thus, the Lawyer Class helps the American people maintain a sense of history.
2) Juries - They act as “free schools” educating the people about the law and justice. Teaches the citizens values such as fairness and equity and responsibility.

Question 21

What are the three factors the de Tocqueville argues contribute to the sustainable democratic republic in America?

Answer 21

1) Situation - This Refers to the geographic and natural advantages American possesses. Think natural resources and space. There is so much land in America that truly restless souls can move westward and then mature. Moreover, the opportunity for property and the maturity that comes with it is possible. Also, America is so distant from all of its European rivalries. (Separated by an ocean.)
2) The Laws - The fact that America had a Bill of Rights and a Constitution help the people of America maintain a democratic republic. In other words, the structure of the government America created helps is longevity into the future. However, he later notes that countries in South America have tried a similar system of laws to less successful results. Nevertheless, the system is still important.
3) Mores - This is what de Tocqueville would argue is the most important for the maintenance of a democratic republic.

Question 22

Rank the three factors in terms of importance.

Answer 22

Lowest - Situation
Middle - Laws
Highest - Mores

Question 23

What does de Tocqueville think about religion?

Answer 23

• ) He believes religion is essential.
• ) He describes it as the “first American Institution”
• ) Moreover, he believes that human beings are religious by nature.

Question 24

What are the three races according to de Tocqueville and that he considers in his work?

Answer 24

1) Whites
2) Natives (Native American Indians)
3) Blacks (Slaves)

Question 25

What does de Tocqueville think about the Blacks in America?

Answer 25

-) Believes That They Have Lost Their Connection to History (More Like Had It Stolen From Them By Slavery.)

Question 26

What does de Tocqueville think about the Indians in America?

Answer 26

-) Were broken up and, in this process, also lost their history and memories of their people.

Question 27

What does de Tocqueville think about the institution of slavery and its later effects?

Answer 27

• ) Slavery debases both the slave (takes him from his history) and the slave owner (destroys the value of hard work).
• ) Race-based slavery will eventually cause a conflict. He predicts the occurrence of a civil war over the institution.

Question 28

Contrast the subject matter of Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Answer 28

-) Volume 1 deals more with politics whereas Volume 2 deals more with social issues.

Question 29

Describe a basic summary of Volume 2.

Answer 29

• ) It is more pessimistic about the future of democracy, Not fatalist, but recognizes the choice between freedom and servitude and that freedom is not the natural choice.
• ) Freedom, thus, is an art the requires practice to maintain. There are certain conditions needed for freedom and it is not simply the byproduct of equality.

Question 30

Describe the American philosophical landscape in the early 20th century.

Answer 30

• ) Americans are more oriented towards commerce and not philosophy.
• ) There are no uniquely American philosophical schools in the early 20th century.
• ) America’s 1st philosophical school is Pragmatism in the early 20th century.

Question 31

How does individuality affect reason in America according to de Tocqueville?

Answer 31

• ) America becomes the country where the principles of Descartes are least studied but most followed.
• ) In a democratic age where everyone is equal, it creates a crisis of authority and people only trust their own individual reason rather than authorities.
• ) This trust of one’s own reason above all else leads to certain habits of thought that encourage people to think horizontally in an equal society and vertically in an unequal society. (Thus, as T will later argue, democratic people can easily become materialistic.)
• ) The epistemological shift towards the scientific method is an embodiment of that individualism. It throws off the old masters and tells each person that they can experiment and find truth for themselves. Bacon and Descartes: throw out the old traditions.

Question 32

How does de Tocqueville describe the relationship between religion and America?

Answer 32

• ) Religion gave birth to America and its habits and sentiments.
• ) However, religion is distinct from politics in America. It is most powerful when it acts independently and forms souls.
• ) Americans have many sects and beliefs, but all are culturally Christian.

Question 33

Has America ever had a democratic revolution according to de Tocqueville?

Answer 33

-) No. It is has always had equality of conditions that has been stabilized by religion and the lack of such a revolution.

Question 34

What does de Tocqueville believe about knowledge?

Answer 34

• ) Some things have to be accepted on faith. (Somewhat like Pascal: the heart has reasons that reason does not know.)
• ) The highest things are often known in unknowable ways.
• ) It is desirable for people to accept things based on authority but equality has people tend to reject belief based on authority.
• ) Public Opinion then becomes its own form of authority since, as human beings, will all still seek to believe based on an authority. We trust what a number of people think, not what any one person thinks. “Public opinion becomes religion, and the majority its prophet.”

Question 35

What religion according to de Tocqueville leads to equality and democracy?

Answer 35

-) Christianity.

Question 36

What is the tendency of democratic citizens?

Answer 36

• ) “Easy success and present enjoyments”
• ) Commercial men who want comforts, peace, and money.
• ) Contrary to the Roman Citizen that wants virtue and acts according to duty.

Question 37

What are the common ideas shared among Americans according to T?

Answer 37

-) Ideas about God, the soul, and others are the basis of common knowledge and are settled on authority.

Question 38

What is the alternative to freedom with limits prescribed by religion?

Answer 38

-) A limitless freedom described by Kierkegaard as paralyzing and frightening.

Question 39

What is the relationship between religion and freedom?

Answer 39

• ) Men cannot be free from religion and politically free.
• ) However, not all religions are conducive to political freedom. (For example, Islam.)
• ) But Christianity does not concern itself with political government but something higher and more eternal.

Question 40

What two periods of time do citizens in a democratic age lose sight of?

Answer 40

• ) The past and the future. Democratic citizens in an age of equality become transfixed by the temporal and the material.
• ) Things, by consequence, are built disposably since we do not look ahead to the future.
• ) Therefore, we don’t create things with chronological continuity. We are connected to the past by the things we build and it stunts our temporal imaginations when everything we encounter is younger than us.

Question 41

Describe equality in a democratic age according to T.

Answer 41

• ) It is difficult to reverse. When freedom and equality come into conflict, equality is the winner in the eyes of the people.
• ) Freedom is not the natural course and if not held onto intentionally, escapes.
• ) Thus our sight of the past is lost and we become separated from our ancestors in our restless mobility.

Question 42

What is a requirement of despotism according to T?

Answer 42

-) The Isolation of Men. In this isolation, they cannot associate and cannot, therefore, love each other.

Question 43

What is the art of freedom according to T?

Answer 43

-) “The Art of Association”

Question 44

How does T see associations expressed in America?

Answer 44

• ) People look to each other and not the government in times of need.
• ) The hearth is largely benefited when people help each other directly.
• ) This is different than in France where people directly petition the government for aid.
• ) Temperance societies and local organizations to promote political and social change are prime examples of associations that help limit freedom and allow people to live well.

Question 45

What is the main desire of Americans outside of equality according to T?

Answer 45

• ) Material well-being and comfort above all else.
• ) Americans are in a rush to get as much enjoyment as possible but Americans are not always happy.
• ) Contrast this to an Aristocratic society where the main aim is glory/greatness.
• ) This materialism is the enemy of democracy because it will eventually lead to philosophical materialism.

Question 46

What counteracts materialism according to T?

Answer 46

• ) Religion: It teaches the immortality of the soul which encourages people to look beyond the material into the immaterial.
• ) Moreover, the notion of the judgement of souls encourages us to orient our behavior in a way that will bring eternal well being and not simply temporal material enjoyment.
• ) This has a limiting effect and encourages the governance of one’s own appetites (self-government). See Augustine, self-governing people require less laws because they already govern their own appetites.
• ) Religion, then, acts as a stabilizer.

Question 47

How should religion be fostered according to T?

Answer 47

• ) Should not be the form of a state religion like Rousseau suggests because it ties religion to the politics of the day.
• ) Religion works best through indirectly forming the soul.
• ) Politicians should act like religion is true, whether they believe it or not, so that people cultivate religious attitudes.

Question 48

What attitudes does religion foster and counteract?

Answer 48

• ) Counteracts the shrinking of horizons to the temporal get rich quick schemes materialism encourages.
• ) Instead, religion encourages hard work towards long term goals and expands the horizon. When we think long-term we are closer to thinking about eternity.

Question 49

How is the democratic mind oriented economically according to T?

Answer 49

-) Towards Commerce and Away from Agriculture. Since commerce allows for a quick profit to be made with little effort and agriculture is more long-term endeavor that involves significant labor.

Question 50

How could industry lead back to aristocracy according to T?

Answer 50

1) Division of Labor
2) Mass Production
- ) Men become less skillful as they forced to do the same job each day. While it may increase production if each person only does one thing over and over again each day, it degrades the man.
- ) The conditions of those stuck in wage labor is difficult. Just look at the Jungle and the Grapes of Wrath. It is difficult for a man to become anything else but a worker and social mobility is stick.
- ) That social immobility leads to a rich class that has no obligation to their workers like members of the old aristocracy did. Industrial aristocracy wants to make use of the working class rather than govern it.
- ) This is how the aristocracy will come back if it ever returns. However, T is worried that the permanent class of underclass wage laborers will lack the imagination to see the possibility of becoming something else.

Question 51

What is the different between aristocratic and democratic families?

Answer 51

• ) Aristocratic Family - A hierarchy with the father at the top and mother second. Relations between parents and children are formal and there is a deep respect for ancestry.
• ) Democratic Family - Children address their fathers familiarly and are intimate with one another (not in a sexual way of course).

Question 52

How are women and mores related according to T?

Answer 52

• ) Women make mores according to T.
• ) Comparatively, American women are incredibly literate and need an educations that guards them against the dangers of democracy.
• ) In an aristocratic age, marriage was limited to within your class. As a consequence, there were a ton of clandestine snafus. (Clintons anyone?)
• ) In a democratic age, where you can marry anyone you want, the amount of sexual relations that occur outside of marriage are more limited.
• ) Outstanding women —> an Outstanding America.

Question 53

What are the roles of men and women according to T?

Answer 53

• ) Men: in Power.

- ) Women: Domestic crafting of mores.

Question 54

What is the greatest vice of the democratic mind according to T?

Answer 54

• ) The Habit of Inattention. People in a democratic society are not pressed by needs and act in haste.
• ) The pursuit of glory gets replaced by a pursuit of comfort.
• ) In the aristocratic age, there’s a pursuit of glory and a risk of shame. This is what spurs men on to greatness. But in a democracy, there’s no room for shame and, thus, no room for honor. Only equality. This equality could harm ambition and the drive for greatness and encourage instead mediocrity.

Question 55

Why do democratic men fear revolutions and how are they prevented?

Answer 55

• ) Democratic men fear revolutions because revolutions threaten to destabilizes and seize property.
• ) Thus, a propertied citizenry discourages revolution. This notion is found in Plato. He fears a citizenry that sells its property and merely lounges about in cities (Kinda like Jared).

Question 56

Why is war dangerous for citizens according to T?

Answer 56

• ) It concentrates the attention of citizens and makes them more willing to centralize and give over power to a central government that will likely never relinquish it.
• ) The first axiom of political science: if you want to destroy freedom, start a war.
• ) The Language of War has crept into our own discourse and shapes our habits of mind. “War on Drugs”, “War on Poverty”, “War on Crime”

Question 57

How does equality naturally lead to servitude according to T?

Answer 57

• ) Equality makes people independent of each other. There is no dependence like there is in an aristocracy. Thus each person makes no more associations than he wants to and withdraws into private life. This is completely contrary to the way Christ attempts to depict the church and the Roman citizenry in Rome.
• ) Since associations tend to fall apart due to the independence and equality, the art of association is not cultivate and, as a result the art of freedom is lost.

Question 58

According to T, how do social structures effect the way we see the world?

Answer 58

• ) Secondary powers affected the imagination in the aristocratic age. There was an understanding of the plurality of sovereignty. However, in the democratic age, we think of a single amorphous people that is predisposed to centralization. (The barrier of the nobility is gone.)
• ) As conditions equalize, individual people are lost within the larger crowd.
• ) It possible to act against the social structures. But people are individualized and weakened as a result.

Question 59

How does the government enlarge according to T?

Answer 59

• ) Citizens start to work for the government without actually realizing it.
• ) Citizens openly want the government out of private life except for their own individual exceptions.
• ) Over time, this trend allows for the increasing centralization of power.
• ) The desire for uniformity makes small inequalities even more intolerable and we call the government in to act.
• ) As associations dissolve, people use the government to satisfy their natural desire for community. (Nesbit.)
• ) Thus, independence is an art.

Question 60

How are diversity and freedom linked according to T?

Answer 60

-) A well-functioning community allows for individual differences. The community learns to tolerate all individuals within certain prescribed limits. Ideally bounded by mores set through religion.

Question 61

What facilitates the expansion of power according to T?

Answer 61

• ) Administrative Technology.
• ) As Industry grows power will centralize and bureaucracy will grow.
• ) Landowners want the least control but industry creates moveable property that wants control.
• ) Thus the lines between government and industry blur.

Question 62

What is T’s vision for the future?

Answer 62

• ) A form of Democratic Tyranny
• ) Highly paternalistic, not like tyrants but school masters. Citizens become like children and need someone to watch over them. The government reduces people to soft sheep.
• ) People can maintain the democratic system because they want to be led by a centralized power. They convince themselves that they freely choose their own officials.
• ) Despotic government is possible but the aristocracy should not be resurrected. It was terrible and its impossible.

Question 63

What’s the solution to democratic tyranny according to T?

Answer 63

• ) Creating artificial aristocracy via voluntary associations.
• ) Need honorifics to keep ambition.
• ) It is up to us whether we act to preserve freedom or allow or potential to be wasted in servitude.

Question 64

When was Democracy in America published and written?

Answer 64

1835.