Tocqueville: The Aristocratic Sources of Liberty

by Lucien Jaume, Arthur Goldhammer (Translator)

A major intellectual biography of Toqueville that restores democracy in America to its essential context

Many American readers like to regard Alexis de Tocqueville as an honorary American and democrat―as the young French aristocrat who came to early America and, enthralled by what he saw, proceeded to write an American book explaining democratic America to itself. Yet, as Lucien Jaume argues in this acclaimed intellectual biography, Democracy in America is best understood as a French book, written primarily for the French, and overwhelmingly concerned with France. "America," Jaume says, "was merely a pretext for studying modern society and the woes of France." For Tocqueville, in short, America was a mirror for France, a way for Tocqueville to write indirectly about his own society, to engage French thinkers and debates, and to come to terms with France's aristocratic legacy.

By taking seriously the idea that Tocqueville's French context is essential for understanding Democracy in America , Jaume provides a powerful and surprising new interpretation of Tocqueville's book as well as a fresh intellectual and psychological portrait of the author. Situating Tocqueville in the context of the crisis of authority in postrevolutionary France, Jaume shows that Tocqueville was an ambivalent promoter of democracy, a man who tried to reconcile himself to the coming wave, but who was also nostalgic for the aristocratic world in which he was rooted―and who believed that it would be necessary to preserve aristocratic values in order to protect liberty under democracy. Indeed, Jaume argues that one of Tocqueville's most important and original ideas was to recognize that democracy posed the threat of a new and hidden form of despotism.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[H. Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this profound, and elegantly written and translated work, will not appeal to all scholars of political thought, Jaume (Centre Recherche Politiques de Sciences Po) nevertheless provides many insights into the life and work of the great French student of American social and political life. Emphasizing the contribution of Democracy in America, the author suggests that the best interpretative model for understanding Tocqueville incorporates an appreciation for his historical context, arguing that Tocqueville should not be considered as our “contemporary” (p. 8); an acknowledgement of his attachment to French ideas; and a realization of the opaque nature of his critique (a “palette of meanings,” p. 9). Jaume proceeds to analyze Tocqueville as a political scientist, sociologist, moralist, and literary figure. As a political scientist, Tocqueville is an advocate of popular rule with an organic view of politics, and a defender of the diffusion of political authority and localism. Society begets political arrangements, and for Tocqueville, “society creates paths to its own ends” (p. 95). As a moralist, Tocqueville attempts to unite the “telos of democracy and the dignity of man” (p. 186). Finally, as a writer, Tocqueville is an “aristocratic moralist” (p. 326).