Plato ïs Critique of Democracy - Amazon S3

Plato's Critique of Democracy

Most of us grew up with a collection of virtually unquestioned societal values, like Democracy, Capitalism, Motherhood and Apple Pie. No matter how beautiful they are, all our sacred cows benefit from being rounded up and looked over once in a while. Socrates is reputed to have said, The unexamined life is not worth living. Similarly, one could claim that the unexamined value may not be worth espousing. We can leave Capitalism, Motherhood and Apple Pie for someone else to examine, but in this month's discussion, we'll do a bit of cow poking at the first on the list, Democracy.

Hannah Arendt's book, On Revolution, provides a valuable outlook on the landscape surrounding democracy. She points out that the term revolution , which we tend to link with the French and American Revolutions, was originally an astrological term, referring to the revolution of the planets around the sun and the movement of stars in the sky. She emphasizes not only the cyclic nature of revolution, but its also inevitability. While the elements of novelty, beginning, and violence, all intimately associated with our notion of revolution, are conspicuously absent from the original meaning of the word as well as from its first metaphoric use in political language, there exists another connotation of the astronomic term...the notion of irresistibility, the fact that the revolving motion of the stars follows a preordained path and is removed from all influence of human power (p.37).

The inevitable revolution to which she refers is the way societies change in a cyclic manner. One-man rule leads to democracy, democracy leads to oligarchy, oligarchy leads to monarchy and vice versa-- the famous six possibilities which Plato first envisaged (p.26). She notes that economics power this cyclic change. Plato had already discovered the importance of what we call today economic motivation-- the overthrow of government by the rich and the establishment of an oligarchy, or the overthrow of government by the poor and the establishment of a democracy. Equally well known to antiquity was that tyrants rise to power through the support of the plain or the poor people, and that their greatest chance to keep power lies in the people's desire for equality of condition (p.12).

In Plato's words, If the aim of life in an oligarchy is to become as rich as possible, that insatiable craving would bring about the transition to democracy... And when the poor win, the result is a democracy (p.281-282).

The idea that all men are created equal is one of our core beliefs, and a foundation of our democracy. However, we tend to forget that the idea of all people being equal is a rather radical modern concept. Before the French and the American Revolutions, it was accepted that society was made up of landowners and serfs, high and low castes, masters and slaves. As we know, some of our own Founding Fathers, authors of those idealistic words, were themselves slave owners, and our own democracy was based on the voices of only its white, property-owning males.

The United States seems so sure that democracy is the ideal form of government for everyone in the world that it is determined to democratize other countries by force. This endeavor seems a bit like the missionary zeal to convert the souls of pagans as a rationalization for stealing their land and establishing political power over them. It might be wise to take a closer look at the strengths and weaknesses of democracy before investing yet more of our military budget into forcing it onto the rest of the world.

Winston Churchill is often credited with the quote, Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others. What he actually said to the House of Commons on November 11, 1947 was Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. He does not say whom he is quoting, but the outlook can be traced all the way back to Plato (see references at end of paper).

Professor Robert Kane of University of Texas, Austin summarized some of Plato's critiques of democracy in his course, The Quest for Meaning: Value, Ethics, and the Modern Experience, published by The Teaching Company (1999). Lectures 18 and 19 of that class provide the foundation for this brief summary:

: In Plato's major work, The Republic, he described the ideal social system as being authoritarian rather than democratic. However, Plato's leader was to be a person who loves (philein) wisdom (sophia) more than he loves power, a philosopher king. He found other political systems flawed because they had goals other than the search for wisdom and the quest for the Good. In this regard, he thought democracy was the worst form of government other than tyranny, because democracy brought discord, moral confusion, value disagreement, and degeneration of public discourse, while emphasizing and fetishizing images and illusions. He called it an agreeable form of anarchy (p283).

Plato's criticisms of democracy fall into two general categories, political and social. Politically, the first criticism regards the selection of leaders. In a democracy, he says, voters select leaders based on their popularity rather than proven statesmanship. Potential leaders must project attractive images, and make voters feel they are people similar to them, people they'd like to be around. Thus, image is more important than competence. Plato says democracy has a magnificent indifference to the sort of life a man has led before he enters politics. It will promote to honour anyone who merely calls himself the people's friend. Magnificent indeed (p.283).

Once in office, Plato says democratic leaders pander to the wishes of those who elected them, often focusing on short-term goals at the expense of the long-term needs of the society. It is unlikely that they will force sacrifice on a reluctant public, because it might cause them to be thrown out of office. In order to meet the immediate desires of the people, they are likely to lead a society to spend more than it takes in, thus delaying the solution of immediate economic problems and passing them along for a future leader to grapple with.

Plato's second political criticism relates to the nature of debate in democratic societies. Since the masses prefer sensation to complex reasoning, political conversation becomes superficial, focused on images rather than issues. In a democracy, people are awash in images and wallow in appearances. More emphasis is placed on emotion than on reason, and the culture loses its quest for wisdom. Society is then easy to manipulate by

image-makers who are more interested in their own advantage than in truth, or the common good of society. In our modern democracy, says Kane, these manipulators of images are the plethora of media consultants, advertising agents, lobbyists, spin-doctors, and public relations experts dedicated to exerting undue influence over our leaders.

The social criticisms begin with Plato's critique of what he calls the democratic character, focused on his own unique values and desires rather than the greater good of the society. Since people are all different, their needs and outlooks are also different, leading to social disagreement and a lack of shared values in the society. Involved with their individual passions, people in a democracy are less willing to sacrifice for the common good. Liberty and free speech are rife everywhere; anyone is allowed to do what he likes... Every man will arrange his own manner of life to suit his pleasure (p.282). Thus, according to Plato, democracy breeds social disorder, crime, distrust of authority, and a greater gap between the generations, since young people do their own thing and care less about the values of their elders. Insolence they call good breeding, Anarchy freedom, Waste magnificence, and Impudence a manly spirit... That well describes the life of one whose motto is liberty and equality (p.285-286).

Plato's second social criticism of democracy is that its focus on images leads to successions of fads and fashions that capture the attention of the masses for a time, then pass away. These fads take the place of the longer-lasting shared values of a society, which would have given it cohesion. He even says this focus on appearances and fads will lead the masses to eat more poorly, because they will be more concerned with how food looks and tastes than with its nutritional value.

Plato's famous Allegory of the Cave is one of the ways he illustrates the problems of a society focused on images rather than dedicated to the search for truth and reality. For Plato, what appears is not what is ? in society, in the marketplace, in politics, and even in food. It takes wisdom to see through appearances. And a society led by someone elected by images and appearances is dangerously weaker than one led by a person motivated by the

love of wisdom and a desire for the greatest common good. To the modern reader, the question that remains is how to find this magical unicorn, the true Philosopher King.

Plato had a suggestion of how to address this issue. He had great faith in higher education, and founded the first university, his Academy. He envisioned a class of guardians, somewhat like today's tutors at St. John's. These guardians would include philosophic rulers, both men and women, who were not elected by the masses, but selected by their success in a challenging educational program which was designed to develop their character, train them in virtue and the quest for wisdom, and also give them technical competence in the various aspects of governing their society. The modern critic may ask who determines the curriculum, and whose values are taught. The values in this system flow downward from those assumed to be dedicated to the quest for Good, leaving us with another search for unicorns. On the other hand, one might argue that there are concrete skills needed for governance, and someone who has demonstrated success in learning them is a better choice than someone who can simply afford a good media team. If specific training can prepare one to be a doctor, professor, mechanic or plumber, might we consider Plato's vision of the education necessary for a good political leader? After all, do I want my brain surgeon to be chosen not by his medical training, but by popular vote?

Beyond the critiques of Plato, there are modern critiques of our current form of democracy. The first is the issue of direct or participatory democracy versus an indirect or representative system. Some claim that the influences of lobbyists and other moneyed special interest groups prevent elected representatives from adequately representing the interest of the people. Many call for the Electoral College system to be revised or done away with. Some suggest more direct participatory decision-making through the Initiative and Referendum process. However, given the power and expense of mass media, many claim even this more direct democracy is overly influenced by money and the media it buys.

In his book, Teledemocracy, Christopher Arterton suggests the use of interactive TV and Internet to increase direct citizen involvement in political decisions. Others suggest using techniques like our current jury system. For example, instead of budgets being

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