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effects of Democracy with the effects of Civilization. He has bound
up in one abstract idea the whole of the tendencies of modern com-
mercial society, and given them the name Democracy; thereby
letting it be supposed that he ascribes to equality of conditions,
several of the effects naturally arising from the mere progress of
national prosperity, in the form in which that progress manifests
itself in modern times.20
Mill criticizes Tocqueville for seeing more than there is, behind many
of the tendencies of the modern society. While Mill considers these
tendencies (representative government, commerce, science, etc.) as
natural consequences of increasing welfare, Tocqueville holds that they
owe their coming into being and their development to the principle of
equality. As Mill rightly observes, Tocqueville indeed sees all forms of
social progress as being the consequences of the progressive actualiza-
tion of the democratic principle. Tocqueville, however, does stress that,
Progress 151
though he may make the impression of attributing all things in modern
society to the principle of equality, he does not mean to say that there
is only one cause in operation:
I must warn the reader immediately against an error that would be
very prejudicial to me. Because I attribute so many different effects
to the principle of equality, it might be inferred that I consider this
principle as the only cause of everything that takes place in our
day. This would be attributing to me a very narrow view of
things.21
Tocqueville does not attempt to reduce all civilizing tendencies that
take place to being the consequences of the principle of equality. He
does not hold the view that the principle of equality is the key to
progress, or that it explains history, or even that its consequences
(equality of living conditions) are desirable. He does hold that the
progress of the principle of equality is the primary cause of the effects
of modernization. While Mill maintains that the progress of civilization
is the sum of the civilizing tendencies in politics, political economy and
science, Tocqueville holds that bureaucracy, commerce and industry
are primarily the result of the progressive movement towards the
equality of living conditions: Almost all the tastes and habits that the
equality of condition produces naturally lead men to commercial and
industrial occupations. 22
Tocqueville and Mill have very different expectations of what the
future holds for humankind. Mill is optimistic about modernity. He
believes, like Auguste Comte, that progress tends towards an industrial
and scientific stage in which the world will eventually be governed by
an altruistic and educated elite that will enlighten the world.23 The
actual question, for Mill, is how to make progress. Hence, we find Mill
promoting various aspects of modernity, such as representative govern-
ment, commerce, science and feminism. On the other hand, Toc-
queville s vision of progress bears a tragic element and is devoid of
intellectual optimism. The actualization of the principle of equality not
only produces good but also evil. The actual question, for Tocqueville,
is not how to make living conditions more equal, but how to stop les
pas rétrogrades, how to regain the old norms and to create institutions
that sustain self-government. Hence, he discourages modern pursuits
such as feminism, commerce and urbanization, and seeks to get rid
of the illusions of progress that the equality of conditions will lead
to a bright future devoid of danger. For Tocqueville, modernization
is inevitable, but that does not mean that the future will automatically
be better than the past. Improvement and reform require spirited
152 Progress
government and citizens. The democratic future can be a source of
hope, only under certain conditions conditions that can be realized
by human virtue, but that can also be missed if one is not alert.
Tocqueville believes in the civilizing force of Christianity, help for
the weak, enlightenment for the ignorant, charity above all. According
to him, barbarism awaits Europe if Christian charity and hope are sub-
stituted by philanthropy and utopia. For Mill, it is precisely the very
image of God which is a haunting illusion. Mill praises Christianity on
social grounds, as a binding force for society; yet, he does not believe
that Christianity is a progressive force. For him, the Christian ethics is
an obstacle to progress. Instead, he holds that the individual, in the
modern age, is able to care for future generations through altruism,
without the frightening doctrine of future punishment and rewards.
Human nature, Mill says, though pleased with the present, and by no
means impatient to quit it, would find comfort and not sadness in the
thought that it is not chained through eternity to a conscious existence
which it cannot be assured that it will always wish to preserve. 24 Very
differently from Mill, Tocqueville believes that it was not man who
implanted in himself the taste for what is beautiful and the love of
what is immortal; these lofty instincts are not the offspring of his capri-
cious will; their steadfast foundation is fixed in human nature, and they
exist in spite of his efforts .25 Mill, on the other hand, speaks of the
special improbability that he [God] would have implanted in us an
instinctive desire of eternal life .26
Mill believes that all progress comes from science. Religion, that he
views as an aspect of society, should be subdued to the authority of
science to prove its truth claims. He says that:
It is indispensable that the subject of religion should from time to
time be reviewed as a strictly scientific question, and that its evi-
dences should be tested by the same scientific methods and on the
same principles as those of any of the speculative conclusions
drawn by physical science.27
According to Mill, Christianity is a theologian s doctrine, whose
ground is actually written in the Bible. He seeks to replace what he
considers to be a theologian s morality by conventional morality,
whose validity must be tested by scientific procedures. He has a true
faith in the progress of science, even as a moral force, which would
break through ancient barriers. He holds that it is not the Church
(that, according to him, is by its very nature intolerant to differences,
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