Tocqueville's Moral and Political Thought
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ii Tocqueville’s Moral and Political Thought The nineteenth-century French statesman and political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville described himself as a ‘liberal of a new kind’. This book is a significant contribution to a better understanding of liberalism and of the distinctive character of Tocqueville’s liberalism in particular. The main focus of the book is the nature of Tocqueville’s liberalism. The author argues that Tocqueville seeks to reconcile the Christian and the citizen in the context of modernity and explores the question of how Tocqueville’s work synthesizes religion and politics. Key themes discussed include: • the relationship between faith and reason; • the individual and community; • patriotism and religion; • history and nature. An overall picture of Tocqueville’s idea of civilization is also pre- sented. This is the first book that seeks to penetrate the set of principles that have shaped the distinctive character of Tocqueville’s liberalism. The author shows that the consequences that are derived from these prin- ciples generate interesting and significant insights into the nature of lib- eralism. Tocqueville’s Moral and Political Thought will be essential reading for advanced students and academics of political theory, philosophy and those interested in liberalism and the work of Alexis de Toc- queville. M.R.R. Ossewaarde is lecturer in sociology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. His research interests include the sociology of morality, politics and law. 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O’Rourke 34 The Politics of Atrocity and Reconciliation From terror to trauma Michael Humphrey 35 Marx and Wittgenstein Knowledge, morality, politics Edited by Gavin Kitching and Nigel Pleasants 36 The Genesis of Modernity Arpad Szakolczai 37 Ignorance and Liberty Lorenzo Infantino 38 Deleuze, Marx and Politics Nicholas Thoburn 39 The Structure of Social Theory Anthony King 40 Adorno, Habermas, and the Search for a Rational Society Deborah Cook 41 Tocqueville’s Moral and Political Thought New liberalism M.R.R. Ossewaarde Tocqueville’s Moral and Political Thought New liberalism M.R.R. Ossewaarde First published 2004 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 2004 M.R.R. Ossewaarde All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ossewaarde, M. R. R. (Marinus Richard Ringo), 1973– Tocquevillle’s moral and political thought : new liberalism / M.R.R. Ossewaarde. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Liberalism. 2. Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805–1859— Contributions in political science. I. Title. JC574 .S87 2004 320.5Ј12—dc22 2003023458 ISBN 0-203-44921-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-68008-1 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-33951-0 (Print Edition) Contents Foreword x Introduction 1 1 New liberalism 14 2 The new science of politics 52 3 Liberties 83 4 Democracy and history 116 5 Progress 144 Bibliography 176 Index 184 Foreword This book has been written as a search for a liberal worldview that is able to reconcile past, present and future. I have deliberately chosen to take Tocqueville as my guide in the study of political thought. I felt attracted to his thoughts on law, politics and morality ever since I was an undergraduate student in the social sciences and the humanities at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. In this book, I have tried to learn from Tocqueville, I have explored how, according to him, we, as his scholars, are supposed to think and see; and how we are to progress, by his guidance, to make intelligible the nature of practical things. I have not tried to provide an interpretation or an explanation in the light of modern practical philosophy to show his contributions to modern thought. This would have implied that Tocqueville would be the subject of my criticism, which would have meant that I would already have possessed his knowledge. The aim of this work is pre- cisely to acquire his knowledge. The study of Tocqueville, I hope, may foster the growth of wisdom in those who study him. Such wisdom can only be taught by those who have a mind for it, who are willing to accept the teaching. The study of Tocqueville, like the study of any of the great works, can lay a foundation for wisdom, if we are able to accept to listen in accordance with the right pattern of life with which a scholar could hope to develop his own vision of life with an end in mind. This book is not a treatise in philosophy or a study in the history of ideas: at most, I have put philosophical fragments to work in a histor- ical field of problem as perceived by Tocqueville. In the matter of laying down Tocqueville’s view of the modern world and its problems, his biographical history displays a great variety of arrangements, beliefs and hope. But my first impulse as Tocqueville’s student has been to resist the displays of his history, the world of appearances, and to search for some underlying cohesion in his political and moral thoughts: a short list of basic ideas, abstracted to some issues that I Foreword xi interpreted to be more important than others to Tocqueville. If I have understood Tocqueville well, then the most important problem for him – a problem that is basic in all his writings – is how to reconcile the city of men with the civitas Dei. That is to say, the most urgent problem according to Tocqueville, as I understand it, is how to recon- cile Christianity and modernity; how to reconcile the Christian and the citizen, tradition and liberty, faith and reason, past, present and future. For Tocqueville, similarities between Christianity and modernity can be maintained, while differences can be bridged through creative rein- terpretation of the basic ethical sources of both Christian and modern thought. Tocqueville puts the emphasis on culling truths from each side, rather than condemning error. Critics, particularly orthodox Christians and orthodox secularists, would argue that such a synthesis compromises learning with false ideas, which breaks the inner strength of Christianity and liberalism alike. Orthodox Christians may identify Tocqueville’s synthesis of Christianity with modern thought as a monster marriage, whereas libertines would consider him a traitor to their cause because he identifies Christianity with equal liberty rather than with intellectual oppression, and the Christian tradition as neces- sary to liberty, rather than as an obstacle to it. Just as John Dunn concludes that Locke’s moral and political thoughts are inseparable from his theology and from his stern Calvinist sense of obligation, I introduce the argument that Tocqueville’s thoughts are inseparable from his Catholic values and sense of synthe- sis. I have interpreted Tocqueville’s attempt to reconcile different ideas from different philosophical traditions as a sign of his citizenship.