Question

According to Alexis de Tocqueville, how did philosophes undermine the Old Regime

Answer 1

In writing The Old Regime and the French Revolution, the Alexis de Tocqueville’s intention was to know the ideas and mores basic to the social structure of France in the eighteenth century; and to depict how these conditions resulted to the French Revolution. According to him the Old Regime was undermined by the philosophes with the publishing of the works of literary on their contemplations and conclusions of the French government. Consequently it lead the Third Estate member's to read the philosophes work thus provided an inspiration to them to actually constitute the reforms which philosophes wrote in their literature. In essence, encouraged the laws to be reformed and revised and the old laws which were left behind from the Middle Ages were criticized by them. The philosophes emphasized equality, freedom, liberty; and reason to complement the new interest for the incorporation all in their ideas of change and reform