Tocqueville on Pantheism
The Theory of Democratic Despotism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13044386 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yuji Takayama (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 27-49 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Thought (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2161-1580 • E-ISSN: 2161-1599 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/706991 |
| OpenAlex | W2998846404 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
This article argues that Tocqueville considered pantheism as the theoretical foundation of two types of democratic despotism: the omnipotence of “the majority” as an intellectual effect of pantheism, and administrative centralization as a political effect, such as that found in Saint-Simonianism. Focusing on Tocqueville’s critical views against the thirst for “pan” or the passion for unity in postrevolutionary French publications, this article sheds new light on Tocqueville’s theory of democratic despotism, which became a more passionate, even religious idea in the second volume of Democracy in America. Contrasting Tocqueville’s discussion of pantheism with the analyses of certain Catholic thinkers, it also argues that Tocqueville defended a form of individualism against pantheism’s threat to individual liberties
Democracy · Epistemology · Individualism · Omnipotence · Passion · Political science · Politics · American Constitutional Law and Politics · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |