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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions

HOW EQUALITY SUGGESTS TO THE AMERICANS THE IDEA OF THE INDEFINITE PERFECTABILITY OF MAN

From Tocqueville’s Chapter VIII, he highlights the fact that humans distinguish themselves from brutes because of their capability of indefinitely improving. He argues that one who is under an aristocracy does not find trouble improving, but indefinitely improving. The aristocracy may act as an obstacle for the amount of ameliorating that is desired, but with proper motivation the boundary that the aristocracy creates can be destroyed. Brutes are to mankind as survival is to creating; The limits on both are indefinite to the core, but there can be factors that change the perspective on the ‘limits’. The perception of indefinite perfectibility of man can be altered because of the other societal structures and norms but not changed forever.

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