This subject notably fell in the philosophy test of the 2015 French baccalaureate. See all the exam questions of the 2015 French baccalaureate.
Dogmatic beliefs are more or less numerous, depending on the time. They arise in different ways and may change in form and object; but it cannot be made that there are no dogmatic beliefs, that is to say, opinions which men receive with confidence and without discussing them. If each man undertook to form all his own opinions and to pursue the truth in his own way, it is not probable that a large number of men would ever be united in any common belief.
Now, it is easy to see that there is no society that can prosper without similar beliefs, or rather there is none that subsists in this way; for, without common ideas, there is no common action, and, without common action, there are still men, but not a social body. For there to be a society, and, even more so, for this society to prosper, it is necessary that all the minds of the citizens always be gathered and held together by a few principal ideas; and this cannot be, unless each of them sometimes draws his opinions from the same source and agrees to receive a certain number of ready-made beliefs.
If I now consider man separately, I find that dogmatic beliefs are not less indispensable to him for living alone than for acting in common with his fellow men.Tocqueville, an excerpt from the book On Democracy in America
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Context
Alexis de Tocqueville, born in 1805 in an aristocratic family of Normandy, studied law, then became an auditor judge in Versailles. It is with regret that he attends the coup d’état of the monarch Louis-Philippe. Partly to get away from this regime, he left to study the American prison system. He travels through the United States for 9 months, which will be as much time devoted to understand the democratic system and its mechanisms, of which he will write a book: De la démocratie en Amérique, published in two volumes, respectively in 1835 and 1840.
Step-by-step Explanations of the Text
Dogmatic beliefs are more or less numerous, according to the times. They are born in different ways and can change of form and object; but one could not make that there are no dogmatic beliefs, i.e. opinions that men receive of confidence and without discussing them.
Tocqueville gives here his definition of what a dogmatic belief is:“opinions that men receive with confidence and without discussing them.” They are speeches that men take for granted without thinking about them. He attributes to it two essential characteristics: they are polymorphic, that is to say that they have different forms, that they can change, mutate; and second characteristic, it is not possible to definitively suppress these dogmatic beliefs: there will always be some.
If each man undertook himself to form all his opinions and to pursue the truth in isolation along paths blazed by him alone, it is not probable that a large number of men would ever be united in any common belief.
This reflection, by which Tocqueville imagines a man who would isolate himself to make his own opinion and reflect solely by himself, echoes René Descartes’ work, the Discourse on Methodin which René Descartes seeks to find a truth by himself, freeing himself for a time from the authors he has studied for so long.
Now, it is easy to see that there is no society that can prosper without similar beliefs, or rather there is none that subsists in this way; for, without common ideas, there is no common action, and, without common action, there are still men, but not a social body.
The cement of the social body, for Tocqueville, is a project, a common idea. It is a common belief that binds men together, which makes them a true social body. These common ideas are thus essential for a society as Tocqueville will explain it:
For there to be a society, and, a fortiori, for this society to prosper, it is therefore necessary that all the minds of the citizens always be gathered and held together by a few principal ideas; and this cannot be, unless each of them sometimes draws his opinions from the same source and agrees to receive a certain number of ready-made beliefs.
Tocqueville legitimizes a conception which could a priori shock us: it is good and necessary that men have dogmatic beliefs, ready-made ideas. It is by this means alone that men are brought together and able to form a social body. Each one must therefore accept common, ready-made ideas, which he has not studyd by his own exclusive judgment.
If I now consider a man apart, I find that dogmatic beliefs are not less indispensable to him for living alone than for acting in common with his fellow men.
Tocqueville extends his reasoning not only to the scale of society, but also to the individual scale, to the scale of man. These dogmatic beliefs are necessary to constitute itself in the social body, but also to live itself. The man is made of ready-made opinions, which are essential to him to continue living.
→ Work for the American Indians according to Tocqueville
→ Analysis of the link between democracy and the study of science – Alexis de Tocqueville
→ Exam questions in philosophy for the 2015 baccalaureate
