The Democratic Polis

Term Paper # 99922

Philosophy > Ancient Greek

This paper examines Socrates' "Republic" and his ideas of democracy.

1,326 words () | 1 source | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper attempts to uncover the reasons behind Socrates' disapproval of democracy. The paper examines the characteristics of the degenerate polises; timocracy, oligarchy and democracy. The paper focuses on the human desires that a polis' inhabitants may experience, namely appetitive, spirited and rational. The paper looks at the kallipolis, the most effective and the favoured city of Socrates.

From the Paper:

"In The Republic, Socrates understood that there were four corrupt polises or cities, that of the timocracy which emphasizes the virtues of honour and reputation; then oligarchy, which places individuals in government on the basis of property assessment; following this, democracy emerges, underlining legal equality and freedom to all; and finally comes the tyrannical constitution, whose characteristics of slavery are an adverse reaction of the freedom that the democratic constitution enjoyed."