Master Class on Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, ILOpen to current university students and faculty. Copies of Democracy in America will be available for participants who do not already have it. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What does Tocqueville mean by democracy? Is democracy inevitable ("providential")? Is its corruption inevitable? What, if anything, follows democracy? Democratic despotism? Do Tocqueville's recommendations for the role played by religion as a corrective to democracy apply any longer? Can they? REQUIRED READINGS: Democracy in America (U of C Press, Mansfield translation): Author’s Introduction: pp. 3-15 I.i. 2: pp. 27-45 I.i.5: (partial): pp. 57-65 I.ii.9: (partial): pp. 274-302 II.i.1-3: pp. 403-415 II.i. 5-8: pp. 417-428 II.i.10-11: pp. 433-443...