Alexis de Tocqueville Pins the American Mind - Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Alexis de Tocqueville Pins the American Mind

In the opening section ofDemocracy in America Vol. II, Alexis de Tocqueville presented his views on the American mind. In which of the great schools of thought did this prescient Frenchman place Americans? Oddly enough, that of Descartes. (It’s puzzling, given the practical nature of Americans.) Since many of Tocqueville’s observations applied to the frontier aspect of society, you have to wonder what the pioneer, backwoodsman, Bible-thumper, and bootlegger have to do with Decartes, when these archetypes elicit more of the average Joe than the Cogito.

Yet, Tocqueville’s characterization was remarkably accurate. Descartes’ doubt regarding our knowledge is similar to the notion of the American individualist who uses his own plain sense to evaluate the truth. Certainly, the American took a more practical application of the idea of doubt. Yet, Americans in the time of Tocqueville (and in our own!) have a proto-philosophical skepticism which militates against radical passions or fads. This fact also enervates potentially virtuous movements which require deep thought. This skepticism is not nearly so radical as Descartes’, but it does manifest the tendency to make one’s own reason the sole arbiter of truth.

What does this tendency mean for our preservation of liberty and equality which Tocqueville was so keenly interested in? There are two results:

#1

The first result is that the American populace dislikes abstraction or complex theorizing. We want to know the bottom line, and we want policies to align with our basic intuitions. The more philosophical scaffolding needed to justify an idea, the less we like it, and the less chance of success it has here. This is a positive when the grand social planner seeks to remake man according to his own fancies.

#2

However, a second result of this fact is less positive. Since man’s basic moral sense and reason is imperfect, there are times when simple policies that align with our own intuitions are ill-advised or even evil. At times like these, the salutary efforts of the social reformer who seeks to clear categories of their confusion are met with the same indifference or disdain shown to all who employ complex reasoning. If a harmful policy is accepted because of a false view of man, then the reformer must purge the society’s common anthropology of its false notions. Yet, this attempt can be mistaken for the same meddling that the pernicious social planner of the left used for control.

Instances like these are all too common in our history. We rejected the French’s disastrous remolding of their society after the their revolution, yet, we were recalcitrant in abolishing the long-accepted institution of slavery because doing so required untangling the nature of man, his rights and duties, and his inherent vs. accidental qualities. Yet, this application of moral principle from the majority to the minority required the reconciliation of conflicting values and complex reasoning which we were reluctant to do.

Tocqueville was right to highlight this fact about the American Mind, because its existence requires awareness on the part of those who seek to create a better society.

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