The Tocqueville Center for the Study of Democracy and Society is an intellectual community devoted to seeking the truth about the moral and philosophic questions at the heart of political life. We host curricular and extracurricular activities designed to help students and faculty to engage seriously with the most powerful arguments behind diverse and competing religious, political and ethical points of view.
Our work is undertaken in the hope that the practice of shared, disciplined inquiry into disputed questions can help us understand better how to maintain the delicate fabric of our civilization. Our center takes its name from Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th-century French author, statesman, and traveler who developed a “new science of politics” focused on the study of the modern democratic soul. On the contested, partisan questions of his time, Tocqueville “undertook to see, not differently, but further than the parties.” We seek to follow his example.
Read Interviews from Past Speakers
Liberalism in America, the Problem With “My Truth”, and Higher Education: An Interview with Professor Philip Gorski
Liberalism in America, the Problem With “My Truth”, and Higher Education: An Interview with Philip Gorski, Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies By: Tocqueville Center Philip Gorski visited Furman in March, 2024, to give...
Continue Reading >Crime, Democracy, and Higher Education: An Interview with Conservative Commentator Helen Andrews
By: Elizabeth L’Arrivee Furman University, February 27, 2024 This past February, the Tocqueville Center hosted an event exploring diverse facets of American conservatism. Panels featured public intellectuals David Brooks (The New York Times), Matthew...
Continue Reading >Inherited Knowledge and American Conservatism: An Interview with Conservative Commentator Matthew Continetti
By: Elizabeth L’Arrivee Furman University, February 27, 2024 This past February, the Tocqueville Center hosted an event exploring diverse facets of American conservatism. Panels featured public intellectuals David Brooks (The New York Times), Matthew...
Continue Reading >Tocqueville Lecture Series
The Tocqueville Center lecture series brings to Furman’s campus prominent scholars and public intellectuals who exemplify the Tocquevillean approach to political thought.
Tocqueville Fellows Program
The Tocqueville Fellows Program cultivates a select group of students interested in political philosophy.
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