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Tocqueville & Mill

Q: What made the American democracy so successful according to Tocqueville?

The manners, habits and sentiments; 'the habits of the heart' but also the fact that the spirit of democracy and the spirit of religion have worked hand in hand

51 important questions on Tocqueville & Mill

What was the family of Alexis de Tocqueville?

A Normandic family with ancient lineage, who were arrested during the French Revolution but the fall of Robespierre saved them from execution

With who did Tocqueville go to America?

With Gustave de Beaumont, which Tocqueville made acquaintance with the young aristocrat

What was the aim of the visit to America for Tocqueville?

Study the prison system, which lasted over 9 months

Why did Tocqueville document the democracy system to publish in Europe?

He was in America what he believed was the future of Europe, he saw the age of equality as a phenomenon of potentially global significance

What are the two questions that Tocqueville posed in his book Democracy in America?

How did the gradual replacement of the ancien regime with a new democratic society based on equality happen and what brought it about? And what is the difference between the American gentle and mild democracy and the terror and despotism kind of democracy in France during the revolutionary period?

What does Tocqueville see in the equality of conditions?

He sees equality as a social state rather than a feature of human nature (opposed to Hobbes who described the state of nature as equality!)

Which two characteristics of providence does the gradual spread of conditions of equality have?

It is universal, and always escapes the power of human control

What did Tocqueville admire in the character of American democracy?

The bottom up character; through uniting and joining tighter in common endeavors that people develop a taste for liberty

What made the American democracy so successful according to Tocqueville?

The manners, habits and sentiments; "the habits of the heart" but also the fact that the spirit of democracy and the spirit of religion have worked hand in hand

What conclusions did Tocqueville draw from religious life in America?

The separation of church and state has encouraged the spread of religion; better to let itself go than to be a monopoly of the state and it would be a terrible mistake to try and secularize society altogether

What is Tocqueville's "self-interest well-understood"?

A democratic virtue that is anything that contributes to human well-being. It was intended to provide a brake to excessive self-absorption and withdrawal from the life of the community that is ever present in democratic societies => utilitarianism

What did Tocqueville mean with the omnipotence of the majority?

Rather than regathering the people in Madisonian terms as a shifting coalition of interest groups, he tended to regard the power of the majority as unlimited and unstoppable

From who did Tocqueville got the problem of tyranny of the majority?

From Aristotle, who wrote in politics that democracy is the rule of the many, generally the poor, for their own interest. That was for Tocqueville the danger of democracy.

What was Tocqueville's solution for the problem of majority?

Enlarge the orbit of government to prevent the creation of a permanent majority fraction

What is a source of democratic tyranny that escaped the attention of Madison and that Tocqueville identified?

The power of public opinion, today political correctness

What did Tocqueville think of political and administrative centralization?

Political centralization regarded Tocqueville as a good thing; to ensure that equal justice is offered to every citizen. But administrative centralization is atrocious, because it represents the slow penetration of the bureaucracy into every aspect of daily life

What was the aim of the book of Tocqueville?

A warning to his contemporaries about what might be the case unless they acted to resist it. He wrote to empower his readers to direct their future

Does Tocqueville think the American democracy and constitution is the absolute best?

No, it is one of the forms that democracy can give to its government, but he does not consider these the only ones or the best that a democratic people should adopt

What are the benefits of aristocracy when comparing it to democracy?

Aristocratic laws are based on knowledge and wiseness, while democratic are based on interests

Why is democracy still the best form instead of aristocracy?

Because the laws of democracy tend to be good for the greatest number, aristocrat laws only for the wealthy

What is the advantage of democracy?

Not to favor the prosperity of all, but only to serve the well-being of the greatest number

Why does the love for the country lead to fleeting efforts rather than to continuity of efforts?

Men only take responsibility for their native country when in crisis and when it isn't as powerful and beautiful as they see it, so then they make the best out of it but it declines in the midst of peace

Why is the American man more inspired to give his best for the country?

They understand that general prosperity exerts on his happiness and he can make the public fortune

What does Tocqueville think of the patriotism of Americans?

Irritable; you have the freedom where Americans will defend anything when you say something critical against them

Why do Americans obey the law more easily than Europeans?

There is a personal interest of everyone obeying the laws; you will be part of the majority the next time and you will then also want other to obey the law

How are Americans more engaged in politics than Europeans?

They gather themselves more and discuss politics with each other and with that make their opinion

What are the two main points that let American democracy stand out from European?

They wanted the members of the legislature to be named directly by the people and for a very short term

Why is the legislative branch in the US unstable?

Because of the omnipotence of the majority and the rapid and absolute manner in which the will is executed

What is the double effect that comes with rapid changing government?

The new government implements new policy, but then old policies are forgotten and neglected

Why does Tocqueville think that there exists no mixed government?

Because there is always one principle of action that dominates

What is the difference between an American and a European in their ideas on rights?

Americans submits without murmur to the power of its magistrates because he knows he has political rights and uses them. In Europe people don't recognize sovereign authority

What is the difference in freedom of thought between absolutism and democracy?

In democracy, the majority dwars a circle around thought, and inside those limits the writer is free. In absolutism, the monarch says what you may think and what you can't

What does the soul and the body metaphor mean with differing opinions in tyranny/democracy and monarchy?

In democratic republics, when you disagree with the majority nothing severe changes, but you will always be looked at differently by them. In monarchy, the majority praises all the king does

Why do Americans feel more patriotism than people that govern in their name?

The original Americans had a greatness over them that is still feelable in the country and the citizens still carry that

What did John Mill senior want John junior to grow up as?

The perfect utilitarian mind; an intellect equipped with the material and analytical skills that would enable tit to focus without distraction on the Benthamite political agenda

Which distractions could prevent John Stuart Mill from being perfect?

Religion, art, poetry or philosophy (besides the basics that Bentham's system proposed). More generally, without any sense of the proper place the emotions should occupy in a healthy view of the world

What did Mill do after his emotional crisis due to the utilitarianism?

He constructed a new kind, with elements of Romantic thought where he put more emphasis on enjoyments that were qualitatively better instead of always quantitative

How does the quote in Mill's book Utilitarianism "better a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied" be seen?

As elitist or indulgently aestheticist

What are the three most important things in Mill's philosophy?

1) the use of our active faculties: curiosity, questioning and our ability to make something out of our lives
2) true happiness was not the birthright of the few; many have an ordinary life but wretched education and social arrangements are the hindrance of those
3) he wanted to alter the wretched social arrangements, such as subordination of women and the exclusion of the majority on politics

What were other jobs that Mill had?

He founded the London and Westminster Review, he worked for the West India Company and served in Parliament

What did Mill say with his article "the Contest in America"?

He tried to influence the public opinion in Britain against the Southern states and convince them that the issue was slavery, not just the right to secession

What did Harriet Taylor influence in Mill?

His position on women's right but also his position towards socialism

When does quality play the biggest role in choosing with utilitarianism?

When there is knowledge on one side which support one of the options so stark

Why is it better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; Socrates vs. A fool?

Because the wise know both sides, the fools know only their sides

Why is the rule of Jesus "to do as you would be done by" so important for utilitarianism?

Because you have to be impartial and benevolent spectator when making decisions over lives and choices

What is virtue in relation to utilitarianism?

Virtue is not naturally and originally part of the end, but is capable in becoming so and therefore desired and cherished as a part of their happiness

What is the difference between liberty how it was seen in times of a monarch and civil/social liberty?

Back then it was the protection against the tyranny of political rulers, but now it is the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual

Which two attempts to limit the power which the ruler should be suffering to exercise over the community?

1) obtaining the recognition of certain immunities, which can be regarded as a breach of duty in the ruler to infringe
2) the establishment of constitutional checks by the community or their representatives

What is the tyranny of the majority?

The majority has in a democracy the right to govern, so they can tyrannize the minority. There needs to be protection against this too.

What is the most important civil right for humans according to Mill?

Freedom of thought, feeling, opinion etc.

Why it the liberty of expressing and publishing opinions different than having them?

Because it belongs to the part which concerns other people. This is inseparable and concerns the freedom of unity

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

History of Political Thought

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