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Liberty & Equality

Philosopher-Kings In The Kingdom of Ends

Richard Oxenberg tells us why democracy needs philosopher-citizens.

I would like to begin with a bit of a riddle: How do you turn a democracy into a tyranny?

The answer, as those familiar with Plato’s Republic (380 BCE) will know, is: Do nothing. It will become a tyranny all by itself.

Plato spends a good part of the Republic developing his argument for this, and yet the gist of his argument might be found in the word ‘democracy’ itself. ‘Democracy’ is derived from two Greek words: ‘demos’, which means ‘people’, and ‘kratos’, which means ‘power’; and so democracy might be defined as ‘power of the people’. This corresponds with Abraham Lincoln’s famous designation of democracy as “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” – which he hoped would not perish from the earth.

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