Liberal Democracy Reexamined: Leo Strauss on Alexis de Tocqueville

This article explores Leo Strauss's thoughts on Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1954 "Natural Right" course transcript. One of the significant features of this transcript is that it contains an original interpretation and tentative critique of Tocqueville's political philosophy. Although Strauss considered Tocqueville to be an indispensable observer of modern liberal democracy, he saw significant limits to Tocqueville's thought. By comparing him with Aristotle and Nietzsche, among others, Strauss criticizes Tocqueville's understanding of justice, history, and democracy. Strauss concludes that Nietzsche offers a more profound critique of liberal democracy, but one that leads to right-wing extremism. Strauss urges his students to be satisfied with Tocqueville's more moderate and humane criticisms. Although Strauss's tentative critique is illuminating and worth careful consideration, I challenge his interpretation and offer a Tocquevillian response to his overly intellectualized conception of social and political change.