Socrates’ view on Democracy: Strong Reasons for hatred!
Socrates’ view on Democracy: Strong Reasons for hatred!
First of all, before diving into the discussion of Socrates’ view on Democracy, you need to know that democracy during Socrates’ era had a different meaning than now. At that time Socrates’ spoke about direct democracy which means the rulers are the demos (people). A different form of democracy was present at that time which we will cover in the later part of this article.
But, today we live in an era of representative democracy, or democratic republics. And usually, we refer to representative democracy or Parliamentary democracy with it. So, both of them are quite different from each other.
So, now that you know the terminology problem let’s dive into the conversation.
To learn in-depth about Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle’s views on Democracy you can read this detailed post: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle on Democracy and its flaws.
Why Socrates’ view on democracy is important?
You might wonder why Socrates’ views on democracy are important. It’s because he makes us think hard about how governments work. He helps us see that democracy isn’t perfect. It has some flaws. Socrates makes us question things like how people can be easily influenced by leaders who don’t have their best interests at heart. He lived in a time when democracy was just starting, so he saw its problems up close.
And what he said about democracy still makes sense today because we can see similar issues in modern democracies too. So, Socrates’ views on democracy teach us to look closely at how our governments function and to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
What did Socrates think about democracy?
Socrates’ thoughts on democracy were straightforward, you would let only skilled sailors sail a ship, a skilled doctor treat you, and even a specialist at shoe stitching, stitch your shoes. Then, why wouldn’t you let only the skilled and knowledgeable people run the state?
If people in general who lack proper knowledge are put into the work of making sensitive decisions for a country the outcome would be catastrophic. And no matter where you are from you most probably have already experienced something like this.
According to Socrates’ view on democracy, only the people who think and have the right knowledge about political issues and society should be given the power to have a say in the legislation.
According to Socrates society will fall and won’t work properly if philosophers don’t become the rulers of the state or if the rulers don’t become the philosophers.
He believed the ideal ruler of a state was a philosopher king. Because they could lead the country with his deep knowledge and studies during his lifetime. However, Socrates never abolished democracy in favor of autocracy.
Why did Socrates hate democracy?
So, you already can understand that Socrates’ views on democracy were skeptical like his views on religion and others. It was like a toxic relationship between Socrates and Democracy. He believed governance should be left to specialists and specialists only. His point was democracy will only ever work if coupled with education.
He argued that giving every citizen, regardless of proper education or knowledge, the right to vote could lead to manipulation by charismatic leaders. Therefore, Socrates questioned the suitability of democracy, seeing it as a system vulnerable to manipulation and lacking in effective governance.
Now that you know Socrates’ thoughts about democracy let’s see what his student Plato has to say about it. Moreover, we will cover Aristotle’s views on it as well as he is the best student of Plato.
