Resumen:
The article contends that for Tocqueville the notion of Providence was an important tool in dealing with problems he encountered both in explaining the emergence of democratic equality as a universal phenomenon and in defining possible lines of action for those who, like him, advocated a liberal solution to the challenges brought by modernity. Specifically, it is argued that the notion of Providence played three roles in the construction of Tocqueville s arguments: a rhetorical role (convincing his peers that a return to the Old Regime was unfeasible); a cognitive role (lending meaning to the long-term process without reinforcing materialist views regarding either chance or the causality immanent to history); and an ethical-political role (determining the role of responsible human action within the contemporary world)
Descripción:
Dados, Rio de Janeiro, v. 40, n.2, p. 199-227, 1997.
