In America we revere democracy (conceptually - not necessarily the political party) as something that ought to be attained and that which is the pinnacle of liberty and freedom. While America itself is not explicitly democratic, our form of government is rooted in the concepts of people impacting their government, liberty, and freedom. Growing up American, democracy is really one of those inbred ideals that I always think of as being completely good in concept (though not always practical).
As such, it was a bit surprising to me to see Plato almost condemn democracy as being evil, as it is the go-between for oligarchy (basically rich have everything and poor can’t contribute), and despotic tyranny. Obviously not a helpful or perfect ideal. But perhaps he is saying that merely the application is faulty. Regardless, it’s intriguing to see democracy not idolized. Honestly, given the division between republicans and democrats today (even though it's debatable whether the parties hold to their namesakes), it shouldn't really be surprising that a dude who wrote Plato's Republic would hate on democracy...
Commented on Jeremy's
Commented on Jeremy's
I agree with not expecting democracy to be completely knocked down; however, as I read through Plato's views on each form of government, I could see where he was coming from. One year in high school, my history class discussed a cycle similar to Plato's regarding government, but at the top of our cycle was basically democracy (as the ideal government) while Plato put democracy near the bottom. It is interesting to see the different views and the reasoning behind each view.
ReplyDeleteI find it odd that he placed democracy a step above tyranny, considering how different those two seem. One is thought of as total freedom, whereas the other is seen as a total lack thereof. The way he transitions between the two provides an interesting perspective.
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