"Lex evangelica lex libertatis est": la reception de la notion de liberte religieuse chez Tocqueville et ses contemporains

Abstract

Making use of the research tools refined by both political philosophers and historians in their analyses of the 19th century political authors, this study investigates the interest of Tocqueville's contemporaries in his work, with a view to the concept of religious freedom. The author focuses on four texts which prove thematically related: Tocqueville's speech at the French Academy upon his election as a member, the reply from Count de Mol., who was the director of the French Academy at the time, the speech of Henri Lacordaire when elected to the Academy seat vacated at Tocqueville’s death, and the response to the latter from François Guizot. The study also refers to the relationship between religion and democracy, as portrayed in the first speech of Count de Montalembert, published in L'.glise libre dans l'.tat libre , where he mentions Tocqueville. The article shows how the issue of religious freedom could foment a genuine dialogue of great minds, despite the often conflicting political options and different intellectual styles and approaches of these sages.