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Restless Virtue: Greatness in Lawler, Tocqueville, Pascal

Abstract A central theme of Peter Lawler’s thought, and of his interpretation of Tocqueville in particular, is the tension between the classical, aristocratic idea of excellence and that of greatness understood as a kind of sublime anxiety, a restlessness that may characterize the democratic masses. His eloquent illustration of this connection is a permanent contribution, not only to Tocqueville studies, but to the task of political philosophy in the late modern world. To be sure, Lawler also brings to light the aristocratic, Aristotelian dimension of greatness in Tocqueville. Moreover, what I call Pascal’s residual Platonism qualifies the notion of restlessness as the privileged expression of greatness. Still, I will here ask, employing a comparison between Pascal and Leo Strauss on the problem of parts and the whole, whether Lawler’s emphasis on the Pascalian Christian dimension of modern democratic existence must not be balanced with an understanding of the dependence of liberal democracies on a more traditional and aristocratic conception of greatness and virtue.