On Tocqueville's Liberalism

Tocqueville’s liberalism has been regarded as unique by many scholars because his definition of liberty differs from classical liberals.This study tries to reveal what bases his uniqueness.First,historical analysis illustrates that the heterogeneity between Tocqueville’s liberalism and traditional liberalism is rooted in the different socio-political contexts between France and Britain in the late18^th century and early 19^th century.Locke’s liberalism generated form British experience is hence not capable of tackling the conflict between democracy and liberty in France.Given this,Tocqueville develops his own liberalism and turns to study America.Second,the uniqueness of Tocqueville’s liberalism is embodied by his definition of liberty.This study split liberty into three parts,individual independence,public spirit and the pursuit of glories.Tocqueville would argue the maintenance of public spirit is essential to keeping liberty in a democratic society.In addition,Tocqueville believes religion is the foundation of public spirit as well as a political institution in preserving American liberal democracy.This study will discuss whether the combination of religion and liberty can be practiced in France as it is achieved in America.The structure of this article is as follows:Chapter One:To understand Tocqueville from Tocqueville’s problematic awareness,and to reveal that Tocqueville’s liberalism is his thought of asking how to achieve liberty in the predicament of France by exploring the transformation of his research objects.And to conduct a comparative research among France,Britain and America.Chapter Two:Discuss Tocqueville’s definition of liberty.Argue that in the effort to protect liberty,public spirit is the most indispensable.At the same time,show Tocqueville’s sociological perspective on liberalism and the author’s re-understanding of the representative government from this perspective.Chapter Three:Illustrate the importance of religion and public participation in maintaining public spirit.And discuss whether religion only plays an instrumental role,and whether it can still play the instrumental role.This article combines historical and textual analysis and put more emphasis on the latter one.The insights that the author newly gained lies in the re-understanding of liberalism with the help of Tocqueville’s sociological perspective.