Morality & Politics in Modern Life
Tocqueville & Solzhenitsyn on the Importance of Religion to Liberty
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6356341 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen Baron (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1982 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 395-413 |
| Publication date | 1982-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polity (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-3497 • E-ISSN: 1744-1684 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3234533 |
| OpenAlex | W2328048511 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Alexander Solzhenitsyn has sharply criticized the West for its excessive materialism. He warns that people wholly captivated by material well-being will lack the requisite spirit to defend their freedom, and he identifies religion as the last available spark capable of igniting a spiritual blaze with which to save humanity. While Alexis de Tocqueville agrees that excessive materialism poses a threat to freedom, he argues that its danger can be addressed as a political and not a metaphysical problem. Because Tocqueville identifies modernity with liberal democracy, he looks upon religion as a political institution which can counterbalance the defects of democracy. Professor Baron explores the different views of religion and politics held by these two foreign observers of America
Democracy · Humanity · Materialism · Metaphysics · Morality · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |