The Republic by Plato - 10 - Democracy and Dictatorship
Book Eleven
Quote
"All right, then. How does dictatorship begin? I mean, apart from the fact that we can be pretty certain that it evolves out of democracy."
Notes
The group moves on to looking at other types of governments such as oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy, and dictatorships. They want to show how these types are morally inferior to their imagined community.
Socrates proposes that even the society they created through this dialog will eventually degenerate, as all things do. And, apparently, the cause will largely be the failure to follow the strict breeding rules they came up with. The genetic deterioration will lead to people becoming greedy for money and possessions. And the more they value wealth the less they will value goodness.
This shift to valuing money over goodness leads to an oligarchy where only the rich can govern and there is a sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots, which leads many to lives of crime because of their poverty and overall lack of morality in the society's leaders.
An oligarchic type of person is obsessed with wealth. That is their only ambition. There is nothing higher in their minds.
The continuing increase in greed and obsession with wealth then leads to democracy. The divisions between the wealthy and the lower classes grows and grows until it foments rebellion and revolution. All the while the ruling classes are too obsessed with money to even notice until it's too late. Socrates says, "Democracy starts when the poor members of the community are victorious."
Democracy brings about more freedom which leads to lots of variety in types of people and activities. People have freedom of speech and they can do what they want. They're not obliged to serve in government or go to war or keep the peace. This level of freedom is really a kind of chaos.
Freedom trumps discipline in a democracy. The people are ruled by unnecessary desires and pleasures. And there's no education in goodness or discipline to protect against this. The young don't respect their elders or teachers who are themselves too afraid of teaching discipline because it will make them look like tyrants or that they're against freedom.
A democracy is obsessed with freedom as the highest good, the way an oligarchy was obsessed with money. But, Socrates explains, "it's a general principle that overdoing anything leads to a huge compensatory shift towards the opposite." And so the "excessive freedom can only change into excessive slavery."
The same divisions between the rich and the poor as before continue to create conflict. The poor eventually elect a champion to defend them who then becomes a dictator. They're willing to give up the freedoms they had so they can get back at the rulers and the rich and win power back.
At first the people's champion appears nice and makes lots of promises to appease everyone. Then he makes war to keep the people always in need of a leader. He's constantly afraid of people within his inner circle turning on him as well and he's forced to remove (kill) anyone with enough courage to stand up against him. In this way all the best and most capable people in the society are killed.
A dictatorial type of person, or the type of person that exists inside a dictatorship, "is the result of someone's nature or conditioning — or both — making him a drunken, lustful, maniac." Dictators, says Socrates, are controlled by lust.
This type of person is the worst and most miserable. "Dictatorial people can never experience freedom and true friendship." Every one of their relationships is either about getting people to do what they (the dictator) wants or getting their praise, or they're the one trying to praise someone else to get what they want.
Key Takeaways
Dictatorship evolves out of democracy. This is a little bit shocking to read, but in light of the past number of years, it seems to have a ring of truth.
But what exactly is it about democracy that Plato thinks eventually leads to dictatorship? He seems to say that too much freedom makes a society too disorderly and chaotic. And the obsession with money creates huge class divisions which creates more instability. It's amazing to look back at Plato's description of this cycle, and to see elements of it playing out in front of us over 2000 years later.
You can also see why perhaps he believed his republic had to be so tightly controlled and constrained. He had to contend against these impulses in human beings to become greedy for money and rebellious against authority.
Ancient Athens is famous for being the birthplace of democracy. But it looks like Plato actually wasn't such a fan.