Keywords
liberalism
self-interest
Religion and Politics
How to Cite
Abstract
The doctrine of interest well understood (intérêt bien entendu), is one of Alexis de Tocqueville’s most notable concepts. However, there is considerable disagreement about what this means and what Tocqueville argues it accomplishes for democratic peoples. This article reconstructs Tocqueville’s account of human nature as interested, political, and religious and suggests Tocqueville develops intérêt bien entendu and largely understands it in Christian terms. Appreciating the Christian dimensions of intérêt bien entendu deepens our understanding of Tocqueville’s role as a democratic moralist, the relationship of interest to virtue in his thought, and the character of Tocquevillian civil society.
Similar Articles
- Douglas Walker, Michael Giles, Tocqueville Reconsidered: On Secular Morality and Religion’s Place in Liberal Democracy , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 43 No. 1 (2019): Essays
- Lee Trepanier, Eric Voegelin and Political Economy: An Introduction , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 47 No. 1 (2023): Political Theory and Economics, and other Essays
- Michael Hanby, Before and After Politics , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 43 No. 2 (2019): Symposium: The Missouri Compromise at 200
- Trevor Shelley, Tocquevillean Poetics , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 44 No. 2 (2020): Symposium: Leadership and the History of Political Thought
- Daniel J. Mahoney, With Reason Attentive to Grace , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 46 No. 1 (2022): Symposium on Political Theology
- Travis D. Smith, Introduction to Wit in the History of Political Thought , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 44 No. 1 (2020): Symposium: Wit in the History of Political Thought
- Max Smith, Machiavelli's Democratic Civil Religion in the Discourses on Livy , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 48 No. 1 (2024): Essays
- Brianne Wolf, Tocqueville and the Moral Economy of Bankruptcy in Nineteenth-Century America , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 47 No. 2 (2023): The Future Before Us: Early Career Women in Political Theory and Constitutional Studies
- Joseph M Knippenberg, Liberalism and Religion , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 30 (2001): Symposia on Kant Studies and on <em>I’ll Take My Stand</em>
- Kevin Vance, Shaping Religious Institutions for Liberty , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 47 No. 1 (2023): Political Theory and Economics, and other Essays
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Alexander J Groth, Michael Parenti and American Democracy , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 11 (1981): Reviews
- Richard Avramenko, Notes on Contributors , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 42 No. 2 (2018): Symposium: The Political Thought of Robert Nisbet
- Richard Avramenko, Notes on Contributors , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 43 No. 1 (2019): Essays
- Walter Berns, Free Speech and Free Government , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 2 (1972): Reviews
- Samuel T Francis, Power and History , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 12 (1982): Symposium: Political Parties and the Madisonian Model
- Michael Promisel, Why Character Matters , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 44 No. 2 (2020): Symposium: Leadership and the History of Political Thought
- Jerry Weinberger, But Which Gods Will Save Us? The Political Legacy of Nietzsche and Heidegger , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 16 (1986): In Memoriam and Reviews
- Nicholas Capaldi, John Stuart Mill’s Defense of Liberal Culture , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 24 (1995): John Stuart Mill and Liberalism: A Symposium
- David DesRosiers, “The Team Against the Committee” , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 32 (2003): A Symposium on Bertrand de Jouvenel
- Ronald M Peters, Political Theory, Political Science, and A Preface to Democratic Theory , The Political Science Reviewer: Vol. 7 (1977): Reviews