Individualism And Its Place In Society In their literary journeys to describe a great society, both John Stuart Mill and Alexis De Tocqueville encounter the dilemma of how to engage the people of a nation so that they take an active interest in their country and themselves, ?The greatest difficulty to be encountered does not lie in the appreciation of means toward an acknowledged end, but in the indifference of persons in general to the end itself? (Mill, 120). In response to the question how does a government keep its citizens locked in to the events occurring around them, Mill and De Tocqueville both offer different answers. De Tocqueville proposes the very American idea that free institutions (i.e. unions) keep the populace interested, further he feels that individualism has little or no place in democracy at all. In stark contrast, Mill suggests that the individuality of a human should be nurtured to an extent where, ? ?Individual vigour and manifold diversity? combine themselves in ?originality?? (Mill, 121).
Alexis de Tocqueville, French political thinker an...
English: Alexis de Tocqueville
Photogravure of Charles Alexis Henri Clérel de To...The choice as to which of these two very different theories lays the foundation for a stronger democratic nation comes down to a decision of whether or not individualism has any benefit whatsoever on a society. In response to this choice, I must posit that Mill?s society, which has a place for individualism emerges from this debate as the stronger of the two. While it would seem logical that every person be entirely immersed in the affairs of their home- (town, state, country, etc?) as De Tocqueville holds, Mill?s thesis makes allowance for the simple fact that human nature does not always drive one to look to the wellbeing of the democracy. Rather, sometimes it is our simple nature and in fact (as Mill would say) obligation to look to ourselves from time...