La democrazia in America (II)
- Lingua:
- inglese
- Stato:
- Opera completa
- Autorialità:
- Scritta dall'autore
- Stato del testo:
- Testo pulito
- Estensione:
- ~150.000 parole · 711 passi
Cita quest'opera
- APAAlexis de Tocqueville. (n.d.). La democrazia in America (II). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/it/works/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america-volume-2
- MLAAlexis de Tocqueville. "La democrazia in America (II)." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/it/works/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america-volume-2.
- ChicagoAlexis de Tocqueville. La democrazia in America (II). SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/it/works/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america-volume-2.
Di che cosa tratta
Il secondo volume, del 1840, in cui Tocqueville lascia le istituzioni americane e guarda che cosa faccia l'uguaglianza al modo di pensare, di sentire e di vivere di un popolo.
Contesto e storia
Il primo volume, del 1835, descrive come funzioni la democrazia americana; questo è più astratto e più inquietante, ed è quello invecchiato meglio. Qui ci sono l'individualismo — parola che egli contribuì a mettere in circolazione, e che non significa egoismo ma ripiegamento sulla cerchia ristretta —, la tirannia della maggioranza sulle opinioni, la tentazione di un dispotismo mite che tratta i cittadini da minori ben accuditi, e l'osservazione che in una società uguale, meno differenze restano, più si notano. È il volume che si cita quando si cita Tocqueville sulla democrazia moderna.
Contesto editoriale, non una fonte citabile: a differenza dei passi dell'opera, questi dati non si possono verificare sul corpus.
The Americans live in a democratic state of society, which has naturally suggested to them certain laws and a certain political character. This same state of society has, moreover, engendered amongst them a multitude of feelings and opinions which were unknown amongst the elder aristocratic communities of Europe: it has destroyed or modified all the relations which before existed, and established others of a novel kind. The--aspect of civil society has been no less affected by these changes than that of the political world. The former subject has been treated of in the work on the Democracy of America, which I published five years ago; to examine the latter is the object of the present book; but these two parts complete each other, and form one and the same work. I must at once warn the reader against an error which would be extremely prejudicial to me. When he finds that I attribute so many different consequences to the principle of equality, he may thence infer that I consider that principle to be the sole cause of all that takes place in the present age: but this would be to impute to me a very narrow view. A multitude of opinions, feelings, and propensities are now in existence, which owe their origin to circumstances unconnected with or even contrary to the principle of equality. Thus if I were to select the United States as an example, I could easily prove that the nature of the country, the origin of its inhabitants, the religion of its founders, their acquired knowledge, and their former habits, have exercised, and still exercise, independently of democracy, a vast influence upon the thoughts and feelings of that people.…