Tyranny, Timocracy, And Aristocracy

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In Book VIII, Socrates attempts to find a methodical way to characterize the government of his new state. He does so by contrasting it to the four other governing styles present in his era. The five governing styles he uses, in order, are Tyranny, Democracy, Oligarchy, Timocracy, and Aristocracy. With Tyranny being the worst, and Aristocracy being the best, each government is a derived version of the last. Socrates definition of Democracy places is as the second worst governing style. However, if his definition could have been shaped to the idea of democracy exhibited in modern day nations, would he rank Democracy higher, or lower? In Book VIII, when Socrates dives more deeply into his arguments sub-category Democracy, he defines an unnecessary

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