托克维尔对民主的政治哲学反思及其启示

民主的词源学含义是“平民的统治”，托克维尔将之演化为旨在扩大公民权的“政治民主”和作为普遍接受之价值的“社会民主”。托克维尔在倡导民主价值的同时，提出了对“民主病”的诊断：个人主义可能导致的“政治碎片化”、培育公民责任与义务的社会温床的消解、专制主义从暴力到温和的转变与多数人民主可能对少数人群体权利的侵害等。托克维尔论述了美国民主基本内涵--正确理解的利益原则、宗教的精神净化、法学家精神以及陪审制度等--以防民主可能的流弊。托克维尔对民主概念的审慎阐释有助于丰富我们对现代民主的认识和理解。

Alexis de Tocqueville's Reflection on Democratic Political Philosophy and Its Enlightenment

Theetymological meaning of democracy is civilian rule.Alexis de Tocqueville evolved it as “political democracy”，aiming to extend citizenship and “social democracy” as the universal value.In advocating democratic values，Alexis de Tocqueville put forward the democracy’s maladies：individualism can lead to “political fragmentation”，the degradation of the civic responsibility and obligation，moderate despotism and tyranny of the majority，and so on.Tocqueville provides a democratic patterns of United States--principle of correct understanding of interests，spiritual purification of religion，jurists and the jury system--to prevent the possible abuses of democracy.Prudent interpretation of the Alexis de Tocqueville on democracy conception helps to enrich our knowledge and understanding of modern democracy.