《论美国的民主·卷二·一部·第二章·民主国家信念的主要来源》第5节
Thus intellectual authority will be different, but it will not be diminished; and far from thinking that it will disappear, I augur that it may readily acquire too much preponderance, and confine the action of private judgment within narrower limits than are suited either to the greatness or the happiness of the human race. In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; the one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the other inclined to prohibit him from thinking at all. And I perceive how, under the dominion of certain laws, democracy would extinguish that liberty of the mind to which a democratic social condition is favorable; so that, after having broken all the bondage once imposed on it by ranks or by men, the human mind would be closely fettered to the general will of the greatest number. If the absolute power of the majority were to be substituted by democratic nations, for all the different powers which checked or retarded overmuch the energy of individual minds, the evil would only have changed its symptoms. Men would not have found the means of independent life; they would simply have invented (no easy task) a new dress for servitude. There is--and I cannot repeat it too often--there is in this matter for profound reflection for those who look on freedom as a holy thing, and who hate not only the despot, but despotism. For myself, when I feel the hand of power lie heavy on my brow, I care but little to know who oppresses me; and I am not the more disposed to pass beneath the yoke, because it is held out to me by the arms of a million of men.
注释摘要
这段论述出现在托克维尔对民主社会信念来源的分析收束处，他在这里做了一个看似悖谬、实则精确的预言：思想权威不会因为平等而消失，它只是换了一副面孔。 他要澄清的关键一点是，千万不要把旧权威的瓦解误认为权威本身的终结。贵族制社会里，人们习惯把某些人或某些阶层当成真理的当然来源；民主社会打碎了这些等级，每个人都觉得自己不比他差，似乎思想权威从此退场了。但托克维尔说…