Tocqueville on the Needs of the Soul

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis essay revisits Tocqueville's distinctive liberalism by placing the needs of the soul at the center of his political thought. By the soul, Tocqueville means humanity's capacity for thought and action to satisfy its deepest longings for political freedom and greatness in this world and immortality in the next; in short, for the spiritual side of human nature too easily lost sight of in democratic ages. In contrast to recent studies that take up the needs of the soul, I argue that Tocqueville's understanding of the soul is more theologically and metaphysically grounded than has been supposed. Tocqueville's distinctive liberalism thus rests on the following: criticism of modern materialist philosophy, including the social contract theorists, for neglecting the needs of the soul; analysis of religion in satisfying these needs, needs that are not simply “naturalistic,” that is, vain human hopes rooted in ignorance, fear, and superstition; recognition of the positive role that Christianity, especially a reformed Catholicism, can play in satisfying these needs, even as Tocqueville shows how democracy modifies religious belief; and finally, consideration of the needs of the soul in this world, and of the connection between the religious and political passions.