Alexis de Tocqueville as forerunner of politicology of religion

Abstract

Politicology of Religion, one of the youngest in the field of political sciences, and non-theological sciences on religion, had its forerunners. One of the most important forerunners was Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859). In his works Tocqueville showed in detail how the French Enlightenment philosopher’s thesis, on economic underdevelopment and ignorance as the main sources of religion, are wrong. Also he showed that each religion has a political doctrine. That’s why religion and politics are inseparable for him. This induced political scientists to analyze how religion affects on political attitudes. Dealing in this way Alexis de Tocqueville contributed to the birth of Politicology of religion.

Politikologija religije, jedna od najmlađih iz korpusa političkih i neteoloških nauka o religiji, imala je svoje preteče. Jedan od najznačajnijih preteča je bio i Aleksis de Tokvil (1805-1859). U svome delu Tokvil je detaljno pokazao kako je teza francuskih prosvetitelja o privrednoj nerazvijenosti i neprosvećenosti kao glavnim izvorima religija pogrešna. Isto tako i da svaka religija ima i političko učenje. Samim tim religija i politika po njemu su neodvojive. Time je podstakao politikologe da u analiziranju politike počnu da proučavaju kako religija utiče na političke stavove. Na taj način je doprineo rađanju politikologije religije.