25387022 Why are both Plato and Aristotle opposed to democracy?

Democracy is the main method of rule in many of the functioning states in the world today. There are both liberal and illiberal democracies that exist, but they still make up an overwhelming majority of the types of rule in todays states. The worlds biggest super power, the United States, is one of the prime examples of a liberal democracy with an elected president and many other government officials that are voted by the public. Democracy, in effect, gives the power to the people and is deemed in todays society as the fairest form of rule. However, there are those who oppose democracy and when discussing criticisms people often refer back to the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. What this Essay will attempt to do is, in two halves, uncover why both Plato and Aristotle were so opposed to democracy highlighting some of their own key ideas and reasons behind this opposition. I will then come to my own conclusion as to whether their stances were justified and to analyse the key reasons behind them. Firstly, we must look at Platos own ideal polis, a system where every member of society has a specific role to play in order to allow for a harmony. His ideas were formed around the belief that we relied on the existence of forms for our own being. According to Plato, Forms are unchanging, intelligible objects that are only accessible to our minds and our understanding of them is crucial to our own being.1 It is one of these forms, the form of good, which is vital to philosophers in understanding the best way for the city to be run. It is the idea of good that forms the main basis of Platos book the Republic in which he attempts to portray his own ideas, carried on from his teachings by Socrates, of the ideal way the city of Athens should be run.2 One of the reasons Plato is sceptical of democracy in the first place is down to his own perceptions of the importance of knowledge and the role that forms have to play. The first main idea is that knowledge and virtue is more important to political authority than ideology, the second being that, due to natural aptitude and desire, people are divided into classes and thus only certain people are born to rule. It is also this other notion that the rulers must lie3 to the other sections of society that is, in itself, very undemocratic. Plato believed that within these constraints set out by the forms must practice the path that has been set out for him by the polis to the highest of his own cognitive

Political thinkers: from Socrates to Present, Ed. By David Boucher and Paul Kelly, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Oxford University press, 1981), pp 63-64 2 Ibid pg 64 3 Ibid pg 70

25387022 abilities.4 The key to a just Kallipolis is thought to be achieved by educating the people within it. Reeducating them to manipulate their beliefs into believing what is good. Plato rejects the key fundamentals of democracy, which is the fact that the state is run by the people through an elite government. He argues that especially in Athenian democracy, the population is too great for people to have their voices heard.5 He believed that the state from there would descend into anarchy with the rulers ruling with only self- interest and ideology in mind. No form of political organization would exist and as such a just city could not exist and the people within it would not be able to fulfil their potential. Plato uses the analogy of a ship to explain the drawbacks of democracy in Athenian society. He attempted to explain that the successful running of a state akin to a ship making a successful journey. In order for this to happen the ship must be piloted by a professional navigator, someone experienced in their profession. In the same manner, the ruler of a state must be governed by people skilled and well experienced in issues which are vital to the running of the state such as: law, economics and military strength.6 It is Platos belief that a self-democratic rule by the people therefore would be unwise due to their lack of knowledge and understanding into state rule as well as the inexperience. Due to their naivety in how a political system works as well as having little interest in knowledge these people will be easily swayed by those who speak and who convince as good orators. They will, as a result, find themselves at the mercy of a ruling oligarchy with the state not being able to live up to its potential. The solution to this comes in the form of the philosopher kings who are able to make objective analysis and perform unbiased decisions while also having the knowledge that allows them to make decisions on behalf of the people Many people have questioned the theory of Plato and there have been a few criticisms of his theories. The main consensus is that ordinary citizens may lack the knowledge themselves to run the country but they still have a right to have a say about what happens in their own daily lives. Another criticism is that there are many facets of Platos own perfect regime that rely on certain constants which may not be possible. Everything here circles around the existence and static nature of the forms. Plato theorized that specialization in citizens will mean that only the select few can rule but the other classes wont necessarily protest about their own treatment, instead bound by their own restrictions and duty to maintain the Kallipolis. Plato may also be accused of assessing whats wrong with democracy from the wrong angle. It is not, what he previously thought, which was lack of understanding but more poor decision making which led to the wide conflicts he within
4 5

Ibid pg 65 Plato, The Republic, trans. By Desmond Lee, (London: The Penguin group, 1955), 488a-489d 6 Ibid, 488a-489d

25387022 Athens. His opinion may have also been swayed by the trial and execution of his mentor Socrates at the hands of the Athenian government. Aristotle, a pupil of Plato and often regarded as one of his biggest criticisers, on the other hand looks at the polis from a very different point of view as a means of distribution. He believed that a just polis must exist however that the justice is evenly distributed over its citizens. Man, according to Aristotle, is a political and social animal that must function within the polis. Politics exists on a natural level but also must be constructed by its citizens. In the perfect polis where the correct rulers are chosen and the correct method for the distributive method of justice is being used, it was to be believed that man would be able to achieve his potential and as a result reach Eudemonia. He believed that every citizen within the polis had the potential to achieve this given that they all possessed moral virtue. Aristotle shares Platos view that those within the polis who have the best grasp of knowledge should be best placed to rule however he also criticised Plato in the sense that Plato was overly simplistic and that the conditions to static with everyone living together equally. Aristotle was widely regarded as the first political scientist so, instead, he believed that all political institutions fell under a certain number of constitutions and it was of these constitutions that the best form of rule could be found.7 His method centres round coupling together who should rule and how this power should be distributed. Using his grid of the six possible permutations of rule he deems democratic rule to come under the unjust category. Like Plato he believed that kingship came under the just category with few rulers intending to rule in the interest of many whereas democracy was the few or many only ruling for self- interest and therefore not ruling in the common good of the people, making it impossible, in Aristotles eyes to achieve eudemonia. There are some just aspects to democracy in that its distribution of citizenship means that the interest for the citizens of the polis is kept in mind by its rulers. It is worth noting that Aristotle believes that in both oligarchy and democracy there are just facets to the form of rule but the fact that he believes the perfect polis hinges around the problem of distributive justice renders these qualities of justness obsolete. As a result Aristotle still believes that the form of democracy described is unjust due to the fact that the distribution of political power is not based on any form of morality or virtue. There is no method in the distribution; it is still giving power to a select few rather than others. Here lies the dilemma in deciding who should rule. An elected government via democracy may not necessarily mean that those who are the most fit to rule would get their chance. Aristotle agrees with Plato to some
7

Political thinkers: from Socrates to Present, Ed. By David Boucher and Paul Kelly, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Oxford University press, 1981), pg 90

25387022 extent that rule should be distributed to those who are deemed fit to do it, however Aristotle believed that it was those who had proved their excellence and demonstrated good that deserved to rule. In Aristotles Politics he alludes to the fact that democracy despite being unjust is still less likely than an oligarchy to fall into conflict.8 Due to this, democracy is the more stable of the two with there being only one possibility as a means to conflict. One of the main criticisms from Aristotle, therefore, is that democracy is weak and should be opposed due to its fragility. The ease to which it can be overthrown is testimony to this. Aristotle targets the demagogues for promoting rebellion by attacking property owners and uniting them together to overthrow the democratic regime.9 He does accept that there is a place for democracy as indeed there are all for all forms of constitutional rules including the unjust, for he states that every citizen within the polis should be trained in the spirit of its own constitution.10 Many who criticize Aristotle such as Fred D Miller Junior argue that Aristotle is somewhat narrow minded in his belief for a universal standard of justice by which all inferior constitutions can be judged or evaluated.11 These two Greek political philosophers have paved the way for modern political theorists and have provided a backbone as to how we should view politics and to how States should be run. It is interesting to note then that no modern day state abides by the laws set out by Plato and most are democratic and therefore deemed unjust by Aristotle. It is widely voiced that there is no such thing as a good form of government and therefore democracy, and liberal democracy in particular is the least worst option. Both Aristotle and Plato put forward persuasive arguments as to why democracy should be seen as a lesser option when it comes to operating within the polis but it is also the weaknesses of their own ideas which ultimately led to their rejection. Platos belief that the polis should be ruled by those who possess the greatest knowledge negates democracy which attempts to allocate power to the few in the interest of many. Both Plato and Aristotle believed that democracy was flawed in Athens given that there were too many people who would not have their voice heard deeming that democracy was governed by self- interest. The main reasons both Plato and Aristotle rejected democracy was due to the fact that it did not fit in with their own scope for a just society and justice as a whole. For Plato this was through the form of good and for Aristotle this was through the distribution of justice.

Aristotle, The Politics, Ed. By Trevor J Saunders, Trans. By T.A Sinclair , (London: The Penguin group, 1981), 1302a: 8-13 9 Ibid, 1304b: 20-1305a7 10 Political thinkers: from Socrates to Present, Ed. By David Boucher and Paul Kelly, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Oxford University press, 1981)91 11 Ibid, pg 91

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Bibliography

Plato, The Republic, trans. By Desmond Lee, (London: The Penguin group, 1955) Aristotle, The Politics, Ed. By Trevor J Saunders, Trans. By T.A Sinclair , (London: The Penguin group, 1981) Political thinkers: from Socrates to Present, Ed. By David Boucher and Paul Kelly, 2nd edn, (Oxford: Oxford University press, 1981) Shields, Aristotle (New York, Routledge, 2007) http://plato.stanford.ed http://www.stoa.org/projects/demos/article_aristotle_democracy?page=allu/entries/aristotlepolitics/