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The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained Russell McNeil, PhD Editor, Malaspina Great Books In 1862 the English literary critic and poet Matthew Arnold described Marcus Aurelius as "the most beautiful figure in history." The Stoicism of Aurelius is grounded in rationality and rests solidly on an ethical approach rooted in nature. Stoicism promises real happiness and joy in this life and a serenity that can never be soured by personal misfortune. This philosophy has universal appeal with practical implications on problems ranging from climate change and terrorism to the personal management of sickness, aging, depression and addiction. I truly believe that the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius has much to offer us now...(Click on book cover for more)

Category:	Romantic Literature
Name:	Alexis de Tocqueville
Birth Year:	1805
Death Year:	1859
Representative Image:
Biography, Lectures, and Research Links:	Biography Blog Alexis de Tocqueville SEARCH NOW: by title by author Writer and statesman, b. at Verneuil, Department of Seine-et-Oise, 29 July 1805; d. at Cannes, 16 April, 1859. He was the great grandson of Malesherbes, the defender of Louis XVI. As a judge at Versailles in 1830 he formed a friendship with Gustave de Beaumont, with whom he traveled to America in 1831. Tocqueville's letters show that he foresaw what strides the Church was destined to made in America and likewise the dogmatic nothingness which would result from Unitarianism and the absurdities of Illuminism. Two publications resulted from this journey; the collective work of two friends published under the title Du systeme penitentiaire aux Etats-Unis et de son Application en France; the second, Tocqueville's personal work, is the celebrated book La democratie en Amerique, of which the first volume appeared in 1835 and the second in 1840. The work won for Tocqueville admission to the Academie des sciences morales et politiques (1838) and French Academy (1841). The library of the seminary of St-Sulpice preserves a copy of La Democratie annotated by Mgr Brute, first bishop of Vincennes, who registered in the margin a number of exceptions to Tocqueville's assertions. These notes have been transcribed by Mgr Baunard. Tocqueville held that democracy could exist only by seeking a moral support in religion, and that religion could only prosper by accommodating itself to democracy, but he is inclined to regard as too severe the doctrinal, disciplinary and liturgical exactions of Catholicism, and in Mgr Baunard's opinions his work leaves the impression he was only half Catholic. The work has been charged with several serious defects as regards political observation; he dealt at too great length with the constitution and organism of the central government, paying too little attention to the provincial legislation of the various states of the Union. He relegates to the end of the first part the study of what he calls "the accidental or providential causes" of the maintenance of democracy, and his work would be clearer if he had treated in the beginning the geographical and economic conditions of America. As his work progresses he loses sight of American democracy and deals in a general way with democratic societies. As a deputy for Valognes from 1889 Tocqueville sat with the opposition and voted for liberty of instruction. Under the Second Republic he was a member of the Constituent and Legislative Assemblies and vice president of the latter. The Roman expedition had been for some weeks underway when Tocqueville assumed the portfolio for foreign affairs and in the Odilon Barrot cabinet (2 June-31 October, 1849) He caused it to be proceeded with, at the same time writing to the French ambassador Corcelle: "The Roman question is the mountain which threatens to bury us all", He recommended that Oudinot's army refrain from bombing the monuments of Rome which were, he wrote to Corcelle, "the property of the Christian world", and according to his instructions Pius IX's return should have been accompanied by an amnesty and the granting of a Constitution. Under the Empire he returned to private life and undertook his work L'ancien regime et la revolution, of which only the first part appeared (1856). In pages of beautiful religious psychology Mgr Baunard has shown how Tocqueville's mind and conscience, chiefly under Madame Swetchines's influence, climbed upwards toward a profoundly Christian deatah. These pages are an interesting document on the evolution of liberal ideas of the middle of the nineteenth century. After Tocqueville's death Gustave de Beaumont collected his works in nine volumes. Tocqueville's memoirs of the Republic of 1848 were published in 1893, his correspondence with Gorbineau in 1908. [Adapted from Catholic Encyclopedia (1912)] The Great Books: Alexis de Tocqueville Please browse our Amazon list of titles about Alexis de Tocqueville. For rare and hard to find works we recommend our Alibris list of titles about Alexis de Tocqueville. Post Comments, Questions or Suggestions! This database is maintained by Malaspina Great Books.
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Records from Related Period and Category:	Romantic Literature

About this Database:

This web page is part of a biographical database on Great Ideas. These are living ideas that have shaped, defined and directed world culture for over 2,500 years. By definition the Great Ideas are radical. As such they are sometimes misread, or distorted by popular simplifications. Understanding a Great Idea demands personal engagement. Our selection of Great Ideas is drawn from literature and philosophy, science, art, music, theatre, and cinema. We also include biographies of pivotal historical and religious figures, as well as contributions from women and other historically under-represented minorities. The result is an integrated multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary database built upon the framework of the always controversial Great Books Core List published in 1940 by the late Great Books Pioneer Mortimer Adler (1902-2001). Most of the works on that list are available in the 60 volume Great Books of the Western World.