“一个全新的社会,要有一门新的政治科学”,托克维尔用这句话为《论美国的民主》破题。诚然,平等的权利观念和民主已经在新旧大陆变为现实,而且浩浩荡荡,势不可挡。但是,这门新科学,或者托克维尔考察美国的目的,仅仅就是告诉法国人民这不可逆转的趋势吗?这思想和趋势不就是来自于法国吗,而且在法国大革命中不早就展现其力量了吗?显然,托克维尔另有深意：他的第一部不朽著作透露的乃是自由如何在民主社会中可能。 “A whole new society, there must be a new political science,” Tocqueville used the phrase “to break the question of democracy in America.” It is true that the concept of equal rights and democracy have become a reality in both the old and the new continents and are overwhelming and overwhelming. But is this new science, or Tocqueville’s purpose of examining the United States, simply telling the French people that this irreversible trend is not derived from France? And not long before the French Revolution demonstrated its power Obviously, Tocqueville has the other meaning: his first monumental work reveals how freedom is possible in a democratic society.