平等观念的反思与重塑——以托克维尔的政治理论为研究对象.docxVIP

The second part shows good aspect and evil aspect of Tocqueville’s understanding of equality on the whole. Tocqueville summed up equality as the characteristics of modernity, thinking it can promote free thought, stimulate the public spirit, breed rights concept and cultivate the legal consciousness. Tocqueville was very pleased because people that deeply edified by enlightenment dared to break through the shackles of hierarchy, and express their longing and pursuit of social equality through the actual action. But when people were immersed in the victory of the revolution, the new slavery and political disaster had quietly appeared. The weaken of persons personalities and social vitality, the spread of individualism and moderate tyranny and the breed of self-interest and materialism were just the historical appearance of this political disaster, which was very feared to Tocqueville. The third part mainly introduces the measures to deal with the evil of equality by Tocqueville. The despotism and tyranny caused by people′s extreme love of equality and neglect of freedom made Tocqueville feel the “pain of democracy” and experience the political disaster in social practice. Tocqueville tried to open the rescue mode of political crisis through building a new political theory, and eventually cure evil of equality. In his opinion, he can rein the potential threat of equality through political freedom, can purify peoples mind through religion , so as to realize the tuning between personal morality and public virtue, can against individualism through the principle of the correct understanding of benefits, in order to realize the rational regression of people. The conclusion mainly discusses the core theory of equality, the historical limitations of Tocqueville’s equality theory and Tocquevilles journey of heart in the perspective of the history. Looking into the historical route of development of equality, we can divide the viewpoints of ideologists into two categories: ab