 | |
| Full name | Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 July 1805 Paris, France |
| Died | 16 April 1859 (aged 53)Cannes, France |
| Era | 19th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Enlightenment, Classical liberalism |
| Main interests | History, Political philosophy, Sociology |
| Classical liberalism, | |
The fear of disorder in Paris during the civil war was inordinate. The Bourgeoisie blamed '...irresponsible and feckless subversives, free thinkers, utopians which '...incite the vile multitude to riot and to revolution at the slightest provocation.'
The meeting between de Tocqueville and an old woman pushing a vegetable cart who got in his way illustrate the division.
de Toqueville orders her sharply, “to make way.”
de Toqueville orders her sharply, “to make way.”
Aghast by her response de Tocqueville reports, “Instead of doing so, she left her cart and rushed at me with such sudden frenzy that I had trouble defending myself. I shuddered at the frightful and hideous expression on her face which reflected the fury and passions of civil war... it is as though these great public emotions created a burning atmosphere in which private feeling seethe and boil. "
“Oh the horror of uncaged emotions,” he lamented, as though they were coming from a subterranean sea of filth.
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