Reintegrar : religião, liberdade e democracia em Alexis de Tocqueville

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between religion, freedom, and democracy based on the thought of Alexis de Tocqueville, taking as its starting point the understanding of democracy as a social state that seeks to harmonize equality of conditions and political freedom. The study analyzes the tensions inherent to this balance, highlighting that, according to Tocqueville, the primacy of equality tends to foster the development of individualism and materialism—phenomena that, when intensified, negatively affect the exercise of freedom. In this context, the research examines the role of religion within democratic societies, understanding it as a symbolic system capable of providing moral references and limits to individual behavior. Through an ethical-political and anthropological approach, the thesis supports the hypothesis that religion can contribute to the maintenance of freedom by acting as a restraining force against the corrupting tendencies of democracy. Thus, this thesis seeks to investigate the relationship between religion and freedom as one of the main central aspects in Alexis de Tocqueville’s thought on democracy.