Democracy in America

Tocqueville argues that while it is true Americans have contributed little to the arts and sciences, to attribute this to democracy is a mistake. Instead, he points out that the Puritans were hostile to art from the beginning. Additionally, conditions in the country naturally lend themselves to pursuing wealth rather than engaging in intellectual projects. Further, Americans have ready access to European culture because of their historic ties to the continent: “they could collect the treasures of the intellect without having need to work to amass them” (429).

Turning to democracies more generally, Tocqueville argues that in other democracies it may be possible for some people to pursue intellectual life, if “natural inequalities” between people are allowed to develop, so that those with more skills and wealth eventually turn to a life of the mind. This will create a society in which intellect becomes its own kind of currency, valued by those of all social positions to varying degrees.

Tocqueville argues that the American approach to science is driven by material concerns:

every new method that leads to wealth by a shorter path, every machine that shortens work, every instrument that diminishes the costs of production, every discovery that facilitates pleasures and augments them seems to be the most magnificent effort of human intelligence (436).