Democracy is a topic extensively studied by political philosophers all around the world. Plato was one of these philosophers. Plato believed that “democracy […] is a charming form of government, full of verity and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike”. An analysis of ancient Athenian democracy and the Republic provides great understanding of the statement within its context. The statement itself is valid, but Plato does not appear to mean what he said.
The statement itself has two main parts that one must understand in order to fully understand the statement. Plato wrote the Republic in 380 BCE, in Athens (Spark Notes Editors). The first part of the statement discusses the variety and disorder found in the Athenian democracy. This section is discussing the issue of the use of the ‘lot’ system, and the freedom of opinion and speech. The ‘lot’ system, and the freedom of opinion and speech causes a lot of variety in the polis (Breaugh, Lecture 3). When Plato is referring to disorder, he is referring to the civil unrest involved in the transition to democracy (Breaugh, Lecture 3). Plato might also be referring to the lack of harmony due to the level of freedom that is offered in Athenian democracy (Saxonhouse, 279). The freedom can cause civil unrest due to the differences of opinion presented by a variety of people. The second part of the statement discusses equality within democratic Athens. This section basically discusses the principle of isonomy, which was the core principle of Athenian democracy (Breaugh, Lecture 3). Democracy provides a sort of equality because, in Plato’s view, the different classes of citizens are equal, but only politically, not socially. This also did not apply t...
... middle of paper ...
...cratic Revolution.” York University, Toronto. 31 October 2011. Lecture 6.
Doody, Rodney. "Democracy Ancient and Modern: The Polis as a Way of Life." York
University, Toronto. 26 September 2011. Lecture 2.
Manin, Bernard. The Principles of Representative Government. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997. Print.
Saxonhouse, Arlene W. “Democracy, Equality, and Eidê: A Radical View from Book 8 of Plato's Republic.” The American Political Science Review 72.2 (1998) 273-283. Web. 21 Oct 2011. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2585663.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Republic.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/republic.html
Santas, Gerasimos. "PLATO’S CRITICISMS OF DEMOCRACY IN THE REPUBLIC." Social Philosophy & Policy Foundation, (2007): 70-89. Web. 23 Oct. 2011.
In Plato’s The Republic, he unravels the definition of justice. Plato believed that a ruler could not be wholly just unless one was in a society that was also just. Plato did not believe in democracy, because it was democracy that killed Socrates, his beloved teacher who was a just man and a philosopher. He believed in Guardians, or philosophers/rulers that ruled the state. One must examine what it means for a state to be just and what it means for a person to be just to truly understand the meaning of justice. According to Socrates, “…if we first tried to observe justice in some larger thing that possessed it, this would make it easier to observe in a single individual. We agreed that this larger thing is a city…(Plato 96).” It is evident, therefore, that the state and the ruler described in The Republic by Plato are clearly parallel to one another.
Two great philosophers had individual concepts of tranny that both shared the idea that this form of government was flawed. The first philosopher is named Plato. Plato was born around the year 428 BCE in Athens. He began his philosophy journey when influenced by his mentor Socrates. Socrates was a Greek philosopher who greatly aided in creating what is known as the Western Political Thought. Socrates taught Plato to question all that was around him and go in search for answers. One of the concepts Plato was taught was to question the way that those in Athens were being ruled. Socrates taught Plato that ruling through oppression and force also known as tyranny was far from the correct way to govern. From Socrates learnings Plato developed his own ideas of tyranny. His form of expression,
Plato. The Republic. Trans. Sterling, Richard and Scott, William. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1985.
Plato. “Republic VII.” Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy From Thales to Aristotle. Comp. and ed. S. Marc cohen, Patricia Curd, and C.D. C. Reeve. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1995. 370-374
The Romans called their political system not democracy but republic. Republic is something that belongs to the people. In Rome the right to take part in the governing belonged only to the men and those who had the statute of being citizens. The differences of republic and democracy are because of the origin of the two terms Greek and Latin language. The ancient Greeks discarded the tyranny as well as the disorder. Plato as well as Aristotle stabilized the complete democracy which was not based on the laws, with the power of the crowd and considered it as a form of ruling based on the jealousy and sweet talk of demagogues. Both of them considered the democracy to be wrong kind of state governing. Plato considers the democracy as nice and various public orders but without the necessary governing. The main good of democracy is freedom.
... conclusion Plato's idea of the emergence of tyranny from democracy is true. Tyranny evolves from democracy because of the unequal ability to realize desires lawfully present in society. The idle envy the prosperous and invest their support in popular leaders to ensure their well being in other way. The popular leaders do so, and some commit acts of violence and injustice to do so better. This encourages them to commit further acts of violence for both their supporters interests and their own, until they reach a point where they must commit acts of violence purely out of the interest of self preservation. The live in constant fear of the world around then, ironically chained away from the pleasures they pursued by committing acts of tyranny. Democracies possess protection against tyranny chiefly bureaucracy and the ability to keep citizens informed and interested.
Plato views the democratic state as a city “full of freedom and freedom of speech[,]” where its citizens “have the license to do [whatever they] want” and the right to self-determine. Plato however, sees this insatiable desire for freedom at the expense of neglecting everything else as the downfall of democracy. To clarify, a society that is staunchly protective of its equality and freedom will be particularly sensitive towards any oppositions that seem to limit them, to the point where it actively attempts to “avoid [obeying the law and] having any master at all.” Thus, “unless the rulers are very pliable and provide plenty of that freedom, they are punished by the city and accused of being oligarchs.” Since those in power fear the accusations of those being ruled, they become docile and submissive. On the other hand, those who are ruled are encouraged by their rulers’ meekness and, convinced of their inherent right to freedom, begin to behave as their own rulers. Thus, this blind chase for unconditional freedom will propagate disorder across the society, and eventually cause the people to see “anarchy [as] freedom, extravagance [as] magnificence, and shamelessness [as]
In summary, Plato's comments are incredibly perceptive and relevant: a lot of what he says has been proved true in one way or another throughout history. The transition of our own country from an early 19th century Oligarchy to the Democracy we have today seems to have been predicted by Plato over two thousand years ago. It may also be true that our contemporary politicians are to be ousted by the dissatisfied public, and replaced with a tyrannical dictator. Finally, though not everything Plato says is in concordance with what we can now see for ourselves, his ideas are still relevant in any study of modern politics.
Brown, Eric. "Plato's Ethics and Politics in The Republic." Stanford University. Stanford University, 01 Apr. 2003. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
Plato defines Athens as a democratic society that “treats all men as equal, whether they are equal or not.” Therefore, believes that there are those that are born to rule and others that are born to be ruled. Plato presents the argument that democracy does not achieve the greatest good, giving four main objections to democracy. Firstly, he identifies that most of us are ruled by passions, pleasure, sentiment and impulse. Hence, th...
These are the words of Socrates, who spoke before the Athenian jury in the trial that would, ultimately, condemn him to his death. Through works such as the Apology and The Republic, we can see Plato’s distaste of the concept of democracy. Why does he consider democracy to be so flawed? Let us look through his own eyes and see what his individual criticisms are, and determine if the very concept of democracy is as flawed as he believes it to be.
Plato was a well-known Greek philosopher who created foundational principles on subjects such as government, education, and citizenship. The Republic, arguably one of Plato’s most influential works, is depicted through many dialogues between his fellow philosopher Socrates and other characters who discuss a political theory for a model state. The Republic’s goal strives to demonstrate an ideal city-state must possess and hints at Plato’s ulterior motive to expose Athens as a city in chaos rather than one in order. Plato views on government offers no fondness for democracy due to the fact that he believed not all members of society are capable of making just decisions and succumb to corrupt desires. Instead
The Republic is the most important dialogue within Plato's teaching of politics. It deals with the soul, which, as we know from the beginning, at the level where one must make choices and decide what one wants to become in this life, and it describes justice as the ultimate form of human, and the ideal one should strive for both in life and in state. Justice as understood by Plato is not merely a social virtue, having only to do with relationship between people, but virtue that makes it possible for one to build their own regime and reach happiness.
Throughout this paper I plan to compare and contrast the ideas and philosophies of two of the greatest political thinkers of all time. Thucydides and Aristotle have separate opinions of the idea of democracy, originally created by Plato. However, these two have a positive assessment of this idea of majority rule of the people. My paper will provide each of their points of view. At the end I will determine, in my opinion, which of these two philosophers give a better case in favor of a democratic form of government, and give the reasons as to how I came to that conclusion.