随着我国政治改革的展开和深入，民主与公共性问题的重要意义得以凸显。托克维尔所著《论美国的民主》一书，既是研究现代民主制度的重要理论资源，又是我们思考民主与公共性问题的重要参考。探讨托克维尔的民主理论中的公共性内涵，有助于说明公共精神、公共生活、公共利益等问题与现代民主之间的内在联系，并从中探寻克服公共性的衰落以及民主的弊端的一种可能途径，为我国现阶段的民主进程以及公共领域建设提供一种可能的理论基础。 对托克维尔民主理论的公共性内涵的阐释。民主与公共性有着内在的关联。现代民主的主要特点是公民身份的平等。但是，身份的平等有可能导致个人主义和物质主义的膨胀等问题，从而引起政府“温和的专制”和“多数人的暴政”等危机。植根于现代民主制度的公共性，能够通过自身的运行机制和实践策略，例如乡镇自治、结社自由、陪审团制度等途径克服民主的弊端。 对托克维尔民主理论的公共性内涵的评论。托克维尔把握住了民主与公共性之间的内在一致性，强调了公民的积极参与对于民主与公共性的基础性作用。然而，托克维尔民主理论自身的局限性在于没有充分认识到市场经济环境中的利益冲突和资本统治对于民主与公共性的破坏作用。但是，我们不能以经济决定论的视角来看待今天的政治改革与民主实践。培养公共精神，完善公共领域，依然是我们当前理论与实践所肩负的历史使命。

With the development and expansion of political reform of our nation, the significant meaning of democracy and publicity began to stand out.Tocqueville’s masterpiece Democracy in America， is both important theoretical resource for studying contemporary democratic institution and important reference for us to think about democracy and publicity. Exploring the meaning of publicity in Tocqueville’s democratic theory, will help to explain the inner relationship between the problem referring to public inspirit, public life and public interest and contemporary democracy, to seek a potential approach to overcome the fall of publicity and drawbacks of democracy, so as to provide possible theoretical basis for our nation’s present democratic course and the construction of public field. Democracy has inner relationship with publicity. The main character of contemporary democracy is the equality of citizenship. However, the equality of status may lead to the expansion of individualism and consumerism, thus arousing the risks of mild autocracy of the government and tyranny of the majority. Rooting in contemporary democratic institution, publicity can overcome the defects of democracy by its own mechanism and practical strategies, such as the autonomy of countryside habitant, the freedom of forming associations and jury system.Tocqueville grasps the inner coherence between democracy and publicity and emphasize on the basic function of citizens’ active participation to democracy and publicity. However, the limitation of Tocqueville’s democratic theory lies in its not recognizing the destructive function to democracy and publicity of interest conflicts and capital governance in market economy condition. Nonetheless, we can not evaluate current political reform and democratic practice from the perspective of economic determinism. Cultivating public inspirits and improving public sphere remains to be a historic mission put on us by recent theory and practice.