Writing in his weekly newsletter, the boss plugged the latest episode of Conversations with Bill Kristol.
Amy Kass was a great student and teacher of Alexis de Tocqueville, and would have appreciated the latest “Conversation” to be released by the Foundation for Constitutional Government, Harvey Mansfield on Tocqueville.
In this conversation, Mansfield discusses key themes in Tocqueville’s work, including the nature of democracy, why individualism is a danger to democracy, how associations counteract individualism, and how religion and liberty reinforce one another in our times. Mansfield also describes Tocqueville’s own life and political career, and how his thought differs from that of other modern thinkers such as J.S. Mill, Edmund Burke, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes.
In this conversation, Mansfield discusses key themes in Tocqueville’s work, including the nature of democracy, why individualism is a danger to democracy, how associations counteract individualism, and how religion and liberty reinforce one another in our times. Mansfield also describes Tocqueville’s own life and political career, and how his thought differs from that of other modern thinkers such as J.S. Mill, Edmund Burke, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes.
After you listen to this conversation (which you should do only, of course, after you fill out your Democratic and Republican ballots), you may want to read Tocqueville or read about him. If so, take a look at the homepage of the FCG’s website devoted to Tocqueville on Great Thinkers. And if you’re in the mood for more conversations, you might begin with the conversation filmed a couple of years ago with Leon and Amy Kass.
You can watch the video here:
