Democracy

Week 2: Lecture + Tutorial

Republic: Books 6,7

Dialogue in democracy can be effective and that’s why democracy was able to survive for so long. The Greeks were also aware that dialogue can be tricky. Herodotus was in fact in favor of democracy, and he demonstrated how the politicians as Darius used rhetoric to persuade how democracy can be bad. Another example is Uliss. Greeks knew the threat and used ostracism to defend themselves from demagogues. When talking about democracy be aware of this clash between the art of rhetoric and true knowledge.

For Plato, people will not favor knowledge and rather be fooled by demagogues. In quote from “Gorgias” (about physician and rhetorician.

Plato was opponent of democracy (as Aristotle). Plato was born in 428 BC, democracy ceased to exist only in 330 BC; so Plato has experienced democracy. For him, democracy is the regime of who do not know, of demagogues who posses the art of rhetoric and not knowledge, and demagogues are able to convince people so that they get elected in the end.  For Plato, only the philosophers (Philosopher-kings) should govern the society. Democracy is one of the worst regimes, if not the worst one. What could shape his opinion? Socrates being sentenced to death during the democratic regime.

Allegory of the Cave. Book 7. Imagine prisoners that had spent their entire lives chained in cave. They can’t see behind themselves and they are forced to stare endlessly at the cave wall in front of them. Behind them a fire is burning and between the prisoners and the fire is a raised walkway.  Each day a menagerie of objects crosses the walkway: animals and people carrying their wares to market. Their shapes create anintricate shadow play on the wall in front of the prisoners.This is the only world that the prisoners have ever known. Imagine that one prisoner is released. After some time adjusting to the blinding light the freed prisoner will begin to experience the world outside of the cave for the very first time and it is like nothing he could have ever imagined.  With his new perception of the world the man will return to his friends to share his incredible discoveries but the prisoners cannot recognize their own friend as he appears. His voice is a distorted echo and his body is a grotesque shadow. They cannot understand his fantastic stories of the world outside of the cave. To them it will never exist this of course does not make the world outside of the cave any less real.

Interpretation: Cave – Athens (democracy) and blind, ignorant people. Eidos – outside world, true knowledge, the world where people understand pure notions of justice, fairness, the good. Plato doesn’t feel the need to provide definitons of pure notions. The opposition between 2 worlds is highlited through the voice of Philosopher who came back; his voice is distorted, like an echo; it is impossible for a non-philosopher to understand all these true notions. To be a philosopher, you need a nature of a philosopher. It is not a matter of choice; you have it or not. Adjusting to the light is an illustration that a philosopher needs training education alongside with philosophical nature. It is difficult to leave the cave – education.