What Can Plato Teach Us About Democratic Government

Raven Williams

10/2/2012

History of Political Thoughts

TR 1:00pm

Dr. Andrew Douglas

Plato’s Plea Against Democracy

Democracy is defined as a government by the people that exercise their rights through the elected officials and ruled by the majority. The written dialogues of Socrates by Plato take into account that democracy is actually inefficient and undermines the true values of their citizens. Plato’s best known and comprehensive work is the Republic. He criticized democracy as an inadequate form of government because it caused corruption of people through public opinions and created rulers whose main concern it to the ability to influence its citizen rather than being knowledgeable of proper rulership. Therefore, this government is capable of molding the perception and ideas of the citizens. According to Plato, democratic governance is a poor form of government due to the focus on self-interest rather than the welfare of society as a whole.

In this essay, Plato’s background, views on politics will be presented first; then, his in-depth opinion of democracy and what he believed to be an ideal society.

Plato wrote, in his autobiography Seventh Letter, that he could not identify himself with any political parties because they were heavily engage in corrupted activities. However, it was due to the execution of Socrates that provided Plato with the assurance that the existing governments were fallacious without any possible reparation. He perceived politics as unhealthy and wanted to achieve an eradication of politics. According to Plato, society can possibly be harmonious, productive, and obtain sustainable social living if liberated from politics.

Through politics, citizens have a tendency to seek justice from elected officials and the government. In the Republic, Socrates had a discussion with other colleagues about a political theory for a just state. Let’s go in-depth of each proposed idea of justice and Socrates rebuttal for each.

Cephalus, a...