2018-05-112018-05-112006-06REIS, Helena Esser dos. Virtudes e vícios da democracia. Philósophos, Goiânia, v. 11, n. 1, p. 115-128, jan./jun. 2006. Disponível em: <https://www.revistas.ufg.br/philosophos/article/view/3710/3466>.1414-2236http://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/handle/ri/14893Democracy can be regarded, following Alexis de Tocquevilles thoughts, from two complementary standpoints: the equality standpoint – where equality is understood as a social condition; and the liberty standpoint – understood as a political condition. However, he observes, democracy is not a priori what it should be, denunciating, in this way, the imbalance between equality and liberty, the greater the imbalance as poor are the public virtues. We intend to enroll in a debate involving ethics and politics, by considering vices and virtues inherent to democracy, analyzing Tocqueville´s ideas. We start examining the causes of vice and the possibility of virtue, as Tocqueville sees them, in order to, next, attack the relationship of ethics and politics.porAcesso AbertoDemocraciaCondições sociaisAção políticaVíciosVirtudesDemocracySocial conditionsPolitic actionViceVirtueArtigo10.5216/phi.v11i1.3710