[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 47 KB, 742x481, Alexis-de-Tocqueville-1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
[ERROR] No.18807559 [Reply] [Original]

"Not only is meditation difficult for men who live in democratic societies, but they are inclined by nature to hold it in relatively low esteem. The democratic social state and institutions encourage most people to be constantly active, and the habits of mind appropriate to action are not always appropriate to thought. The man who acts is often forced to settle for approximations, because he would never achieve his goals if he insisted on perfection in every detail. He must constantly rely on ideas that he has not had the leisure to delve into, for what helps him is far more the timeliness of an idea than its rigorous accuracy. All things considered, it is less risky for him to invoke a few false principles than to waste time trying to show that all his principles are true. Long and learned proofs do not determine how the world is run. Quick assessments of specific facts, daily study of the shifting passions of the multitude, momentary chances and the skill to grasp them — these are the things that decide how affairs are dealt with in democratic societies."

Just a friendly reminder that the man of action stems from democratic instincts. (And Nietzsche lost.)
Discuss Tocqueville's literature on war and becoming for the aristocratic and democratic man.

>> No.18807611

bait thread

>> No.18807630

>>18807559
The more I hear of Tocqueville, the more I am inclined to view him as a critic of America. Why do conservatives love him so much?

>> No.18807640

>>18807611
>he's STILL online
How do you do it? And with all that time dedicated to the Philosophy of Action (tweeting 60 iq self help takes).

>> No.18807658

>>18807559
I think these are really quite different notions of action.

>> No.18807675

>>18807630
America was essentially a pure democracy, so one could see how it developed free of the remaining aristocratic forces in Europe, and how much the aristocracy shifted in the providential new world.
Tocqueville still had hope for America and democracy despite what is a very critical book.

>> No.18807699

>>18807658
"In centuries in which nearly everyone is active, there is thus a general tendency to place too much value on quickness of mind and superficial concepts and too little on deeper but slower exertions of the intellect."

"In aristocratic centuries men turn to science particularly to gratify the mind; in democratic centuries they do so to gratify the body."

>> No.18807703

>>18807559
where is this quote from and if it’s from Democracy in America what volume?

>> No.18807716

>>18807675
>>18807699
Not a single quote you've posted that I've seen on /lit/ has involved Tocqueville praising America. Are you just doing this on purpose, or are conservatives not capable of seeing what is right in front of them?

>> No.18807791

>>18807716
Read the book instead of sitting on lit complaining about politics.

>> No.18807993

"Had Pascal only some great profit in mind, or had he been moved solely by the desire for glory, I cannot believe that he would have been able to concentrate the powers of his mind as he did to uncover the Creator’s best-kept secrets. Seeing him, as it were, wrest his soul from life’s concerns so as to devote himself entirely to this research, only to die of old age at forty, having prematurely ruptured the bond between soul and body, I stand amazed in the knowledge that no ordinary cause could have produced such extraordinary efforts."

Too based for this earth.

>> No.18808594

Bump

>> No.18808598

>>18808594
And so it begins again. How long will you wait until you let this thread die?

>> No.18808647

>>18808598
And so it begins again. How long will you wait until you read a book or make a decent thread?
Get off the internet for at least a few hours a day.

>> No.18808714

>>18808598
ywnbaw

>> No.18809150

>>18807716
>Tocqueville wrote the following reproach to Henry Reeve, his friend and author of the first English translation of Democracy in America: "Without wishing to do so and by following the instinct of your opinions, you have quite vividly colored what was contrary to Democracy and almost erased what could do harm to Aristocracy."

>> No.18809520

>>18809150
Good thing I can read French. One day I will have to examine the original.

>> No.18809572

>>18807559
The Chad Cut and Paste
>>18808598
The Troon Discord Seethe

https://youtube.com/watch?v=a0yECx0pNAA

>> No.18809587

IMAGINE BELIEVING THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION. THE WILL IS SPIRIT.

>> No.18809595

Anyone else here LOVE tocqueville ? :)

>> No.18809697

>>18809587
Imagine thinking Tocqueville is wrong.

>> No.18809806

>>18809587
Wrong

>> No.18810142

>>18809572
thank you so much for that excerpt. very interesting.

>> No.18810178

>>18807675
Pure Democratic? Do you mean democracy like Plato an oligarchy? US was far from a democracy

>> No.18810290

>>18810178
As in democratic without any previous foundation, no land or traditions to influence it, or at least the influence was minimal. Or perhaps you could say the providential aspects were even more clear.
America is and was a democracy. Although Tocqueville's definition may be different from what people use today.

>> No.18811071

>>18810142
>>18809572
Yes very good

>> No.18811511

>>18807559
Most of the shit trannies claim is bad about capitalism is actually the fault of democracy

>> No.18811888

>>18811511
True Tocqueville makes a great counter to Marx

>> No.18812188

>>18809587
bUT CONTEMPLATION is AN Aaction

>> No.18812580

ywnbaw

>> No.18813806

"I have long noticed that the men who lose their heads most readily and prove weakest in the face of popular unrest are the men of war. Accustomed to facing organized forces and leading docile soldiers, they are easily disconcerted by the tumultuous cries of a disorderly multitude of harmless, unarmed citizens and by the hesitancy and in some cases indiscipline of their own soldiers."

>> No.18813848

The Tocquevillain strikes again

>> No.18813935

>>18813848
Can someone add a MF doom mask to Tocqueville?

>> No.18815252

>>18807611
ywnbaw

>> No.18816064

>>18807630
They didn’t read him

>> No.18817041

>>18813806
What a Chad

>> No.18818000

>>18809587
Is twitter action?

>> No.18818840

>>18812188
This

>> No.18820218
File: 169 KB, 275x264, top.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
[ERROR]

>>18807559