Plato's Alternative to Democracy: The Philosopher-King, Explained

UtterlyInteresting · 4 days ago · discuss

Quick answers What was Plato's alternative to democracy? Rule by philosopher-kings: a small class of highly educated guardians, selected young and trained for decades, who owned no private property and ruled purely because they understood justice and the good better than anyone else could. Why did Plato think democracy was bad? He argued ordinary people lack the specialised training to govern well, that democratic votes get swayed by emotion and rhetoric rather than reason, and that unlimited...