a thoughtful, careful approach to world affairs. Like
Niebuhr and Morgenthau, Thompson applies these the-
ological norms to political, governmental practice.
Educated at the University of Chicago, he served as
a consultant in international relations to the Rocke-
feller Foundation, director of the Institute for the
Study of World Politics, and head of the Miller Center
of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Thomp-
son held professorships in the government and reli-
gion departments at that university. The recipient of
numerous awards and honorary degrees, his important
books include Christian Ethics and the Dilemmas of
Foreign Policy (1959), The Moral Issue in Statecraft,
Understanding World Politics (1975).
Thoreau, Henry David (1817–1862) U.S.
writer and social philosopher
An eclectic thinker, Thoreau drew on several unortho-
dox philosophies, including Asian mysticism, the
occult, Native American religions, and transcendental-
ism. He was hostile to CHRISTIANITY, U.S. DEMOCRACY,
and CAPITALISM.
Thoreau is best known for his RADICAL INDIVIDUALISM
and naturalism (ENVIRONMENTALISM). He withdrew from
the staid New England society of his time (Concord,
Massachusetts) and lived alone, sometimes in the wild
(as during the two years he lived in the woods near
Walden Pond). He presented this as a pristine inde-
pendence from vain, hypocritical PURITANsociety, but his
fellows often saw it as a selfish, self-righteous display.
From his detached position, Thoreau judged and
criticized U.S. society, especially the social ills of war,
SLAVERY, and materialism. His ROMANTICISMabout human
innocence and nature led him to practice CIVIL DISOBEDI-
ENCE, or protesting the STATEthrough nonviolent resist-
ance (in his case, refusing to pay taxes). Seeing himself
as a heroic, righteous individual, Thoreau represents a
kind of 19th-century “New Age” philosopher. His atti-
tude continues in many PACIFIST, environmentalist, and
Liberal spiritist and naturalist movements in U.S. soci-
ety. In particular, his writing on nature, especially
Walden; or, Life in the Woods(1854), exerted a profound
influence on the conservation movement that arose in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Further Reading
Harding, W., and Meyer, M. The New Thoreau Handbook.New
York: New York University Press, 1980.
Tocqueville, Alexis de (1805–1859) French
political historian and philosopher
Best known for his massive study of 19th-century U.S.
society, Democracy in America(1835), Tocqueville pro-
vides one of the most perceptive views of the political
culture of the United States. DEMOCRATICsociety, for
him, is premised on the absolute EQUALITYof individu-
als. Each individual’s opinion is equally valid in a
democracy. No transcendent authority (God, church,
leader, king) is truer or greater than even the poorest
individual in democratic society. This means that the
only overriding authority is a majorityof those equal
individuals. The consequence of this, for Tocqueville,
is that true individual liberty tends to be stifled by the
conformity of the tyranny of the majority. Social pres-
sure rather than governmental power controls people
in the United States; for example, a general CHRISTIAN
morality exists in the United States, despite religious
diversity.
The INDIVIDUALISMof this democracy leads to a cul-
ture of materialistic self-interest, egoism, private ambi-
tion, and competition. Envy and conflict pervade this
middle-class democracy, where everyone is on his or
her own and measured by his or her economic success.
U.S. democratic culture is predominantly commercial,
then, with constant business, selling, and moneymak-
ing. Everyone is in trade; no one is secure.
A few institutions in the United States mitigate
against this pervasive individualism, equality, and
materialistic competition. The legal profession,
because of its education, CONSERVATISM, and aristocratic
qualities, checks the democratic EGALITARIANISMof U.S.
culture. Also, participatory institutions (such as volun-
tary organizations and the jury system) break down
the privatism of U.S. culture, providing civic education
and public spiritedness. These check the democratic
tendency to look to the central government for the
majority opinion and social welfare.
Tocqueville’s analysis of, and predictions for, U.S.
democratic society have largely been confirmed in the
170 years since he wrote them, making Democracy
in Americaa classic study. The preoccupation with
private economic ambition, personal self-interest,
and extension of equality continues to characterize
U.S. culture. The drift of local, state, and parochial
organizations toward the central government makes
mass society and the TYRANNYof majority opinion ever
more threatening to true individual LIBERTY. The miti-
gating influence of intermediate civic organizations294 Thoreau, Henry David