Abstract

GONZALEZ DE REQUENA FARRE, Juan Antonio. La gramática de las pasiones en la era de la igualdad: Tocqueville acerca del pathos democrático. Tópicos [online]. 2012, n.23. ISSN 1666-485X.

The pathos of modern democracy has been described in several ways, tough commonly in a univocal sense. Sometimes, the age of equality is said to exhibit a dispassionate reflexivity and self-control; other times, modernity is depicted as a process of exacerbation of desires, or as a great transformation of passions into reasonable interests. Moreover, democratic passions are viewed frequently as petty domestic feelings, alienated from public sphere, managed into a closed intimacy, and subject to a tutelary administration. Tocqueville -who was a privileged and uncommon witness of the transition from the aristocratic pathos to democratic passions- provides us with a subtle interpretation of the various nuances and complex bonds which shape modern affections. In this article we analyze Tocqueville's prognosis on the course of democratic pathos, but we also pay attention to his fears concerning an emotional tutelary management.

Keywords : Democratic equality; Passions; Interests; Emotional management.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )