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  梁晓云

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  民主是一种和谐的集中。它是传统与现实的完美统一，既有现实的存在，也是一种动态的美！

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  大牙

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  这书看得越多，忘得越多，到最后看完，也就忘得差不多了。仅剩的那部分，跟旧制度与大革命一样，些许词语罢了。上册看得认真仔细，托克维尔字字珠玑，环境、民情、法制等造就了独一无二，不可复制的美国的民主，令人心向往之的民主，下册更多的从哲学、艺术、以及民主制度光环下的一切，看得不仔细，但也随着作者的观察，发展民主制度固有的缺陷和弊端。总而言之，没有一种制度是完美的，对个人来说，好的制度取决于服务于你的方方面面，能够帮助你实现自己的理想、欲望和抱负的制度就是好制度。对整个国家和社会来说，永远只能服务于部分人的利益，民主制度服务于大多数，贵族制度服务于少数人，一种制度设计，可以满足一个人的所有需求，但不能满足所有人的所有需求，所以，制度设计者，游戏规则制定权的规则很重要，民主制度最大的优点在于试错改错效率高，从而能够符合大多数人的利益。中央集权制度的弊端往往在于制度设计远远落后于社会实际，滞后、效率低下、改错成本高。就像作者所说，人类发展的未来掌握在自己手里，相信我的未来，全世界的未来，都充满希望。hope is a good thing

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  Ingrid 赵

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  近200年前的一本书今天读起来完全不过时。以下摘自维基，总结得很到位。 Main themesEdit The Puritan foundingEdit Tocqueville begins his study of the U.S. by explaining the contribution of the Puritans. According to him, the Puritans established the U.S. democratic social state of equality. They arrived equals in education and were all middle class. In addition, Tocqueville observes that they contributed a synthesis of religion and political liberty in America that was uncommon in Europe, particularly in France. He calls the Puritan Founding the "seed" of his entire work. The Federal ConstitutionEdit Tocqueville believed that the Puritans established the principle of sovereignty of the people in the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The American Revolution then popularized this principle, followed by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which developed institutions to manage popular will. While Tocqueville speaks highly of the U.S. Constitution, he believes that the mores, or "habits of mind" of the U.S. people play a more prominent role in the protection of freedom. These include: Township democracy Mores, laws, and circumstances Tyranny of the majority Religion and beliefs The family Individualism Associations Self-interest rightly understood Materialism Situation of womenEdit Tocqueville was one of the first social critics to examine the situation of U.S. women and to identify the concept of separate spheres.[8] The section Influence of Democracy on Manners Properly So Called of the second volume is devoted to his observations of women's status in U.S. society. He writes: "In no country has such constant care been taken as in America to trace two clearly distinct lines of action for the two sexes and to make them keep pace one with the other, but in two pathways that are always different."[9] He argues that the collapse of aristocracy lessened the patriarchal rule in the family where fathers would control daughters' marriages, meaning that women had the option of remaining unmarried and retaining a higher degree of independence. Married women, by contrast, lost all independence "in the bonds of matrimony" as "in America paternal discipline [by the woman's father] is very relaxed and the conjugal tie very strict."[10] Tocqueville considered the separate spheres of women and men a positive development, stating:[8] As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen women occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, ... to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply,—to the superiority of their women.[11] SummaryEdit The primary focus of Democracy in America is an analysis of why republican representative democracy has succeeded in the United States while failing in so many other places. Tocqueville seeks to apply the functional aspects of democracy in the United States to what he sees as the failings of democracy in his native France.[12] Tocqueville speculates on the future of democracy in the United States, discussing possible threats todemocracy and possible dangers of democracy. These include his belief that democracy has a tendency to degenerate into "soft despotism" as well as the risk of developing a tyranny of the majority. He observes that the strong role religion played in the United States was due to its separationfrom the government, a separation all parties found agreeable. He contrasts this to France, where there was what he perceived to be an unhealthy antagonism between democrats and the religious, which he relates to the connection between church and state. Tocqueville also outlines the possible excesses of passion for equality among men, foreshadowing the totalitarian states of the twentieth century. Insightful analysis of political society was supplemented in the second volume by description of civil society as a sphere of private and civilian affairs, mirroring Hegel.[13] Tocqueville observed that social mechanisms have paradoxes, as in what later became known as the Tocqueville effect: "social frustration increases as social conditions improve".[14] He wrote that this growing hatred of social privilege, as social conditions improve, leads to the state concentrating more power to itself. Tocqueville's views on the United States took a darker turn after 1840, however, as made evident in Craiutu and Jennings' Tocqueville on America after 1840: Letters and Other Writings.[15] ImpactEdit Democracy in America was published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the other in 1840. It was immediately popular in both Europe and the United States, while also having a profound impact on the French population. By the twentieth century, it had become a classic work of political science, social science, and history. It is a commonly assigned reading for undergraduates of American universities majoring in the political or social sciences, and part of the introductory political theory syllabus at Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton and other institutions. In the introduction to his translation of the book, Harvard Professor Harvey C. Mansfield calls it "at once the best book ever written on democracy and the best book ever written on America."[16] Tocqueville's work is often acclaimed for making a number of astute predictions. He anticipates the potential acrimony over the abolition of slavery that would tear apart the United States and lead to the American Civil War, as well as the eventual superpower rivalry between the United States and Russia, which exploded after World War II and spawned the Cold War. Noting the rise of the industrial sector in the American economy, Tocqueville, some scholars have argued, also correctly predicted that an industrial aristocracy would rise from the ownership of labor. He warned that 'friends of democrac

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  Vien.Jih 💬

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  这本书居然限免！真是不知道该悲哀的说思想不值钱了，还是赞扬小编努力想让更多人思想更加辩证和深刻一点。

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  陈先森

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  托克维尔: 《论美国的民主》         此书谓大名鼎鼎，是关于政治哲学的两大核心概念---民主与自由不可错过的经典读本。盖出于美国在民主和自由方面取得的不可忽略的高度成就，为整个人类文明的发展提供了一种新的方向和希望，以及经验与教训。          某种程度上，美国的建国史提供给了人们这样一种信心：无论基于何种原因，一群陌生的人类一旦聚集在一起，便会由于人类中天生渴望秩序和痛恨混乱的本性，逐渐建立起一种保障大多数人生存与安全权利的制度。         就是说，只要我们充分信任人的生存本能以及追求稳定与幸福的生活本能，人便能不辜负自我，不辜负环境，不辜负群体的希望，创造生活的奇迹。从这个角度来看，人性可能并不存在先天性善与恶的分别，而只有自然的保存自我的存在本能，以及对于更好生命存在品质的理想。         在实现此一理想的过程中，人有两种选择：在不伤害他人的前提下实现理想，以及有条件的伤害他人的基础上实现理想。前者的选择属性在后天上倾向于善，后者倾向于恶。但很少存在那种无所顾忌的完全的以伤害他人为目标的完整的恶的选择。只因为这是一种彻底和完全的病态，必然为人们所不容而无法实现持久的存在。         所谓民主与自由的文明理想，便在于如何使人们学习尽可能的在不伤害他人前提下，实现对美好生活以及和谐发展的追求；同时，当伤害或者恶不可避免时，又如何实现在最少伤害或者最低量的恶的基础上，实现人们对于美好生活和社会的期许与希望。在这里，谅解与宽容，是实现民主与自由的精神前提。或者说，谅解与宽容，本身即是民主与自由的另一面，充满着人性情怀与文明诉求的内在一面。所谓民主与自由，是谅解与宽容的外在体现。无论对于一个人，还是一个民族，这一点都是不变的。         美国文明的建立，某种意义上是人类自我放逐的一次试验，更象是贝多芬那悲壮雄浑的第五交响曲《命运》。在这个放逐过程中，欧洲文明主导和决定了整个放逐的主旋律，东方劳工，非洲黑奴和美洲土著更象是这支交响曲中的配乐。这支乐曲中的各种乐器互相配合也彼此争夺，只是为努力保存和扩充自我声音的存在和延续空间。而彼此争斗和配合的过程，却主要是为了解决和达到不伤害或者尽量少的恶，去生存去发展，从而达到和归于最高的善与和谐。实现人类文明可能达到的更高理想。         事实上，无论个体还是整体，所有的追求都意味着某种程度上的后天的伤害与恶，这也是为什么哲学必须承认“政治是必要的恶”的原因。民主和自由主要的任务，便在于如何节制和控制这种“恶”，如何降服人类文明中那可怕可畏的怪兽“利维坦”，使之成为为人类幸福而努力的可敬可亲耕牛。 2017-1-2于宝鸡