prevent a dictatorship type of ruling by the majority of the public. I think that Plato would respond to this by simply stating that only a person who is wise in the ways of the world, that is a philosopher king, has the education and capability to run the State. He is adamant that the craftspeople are not competent enough to take on such a role. In a democracy, he argues, the people that are running the government are only praised for what they have done in the public light and no consideration is taken about their pasts. These politicians don’t have to undergo any sort of training and are not required to have any sort of qualification. He states flatly that a democracy provides “a pleasant constitution, which lacks rulers but not variety and which distributes a sort of equality to both equals and unequals alike” (228). Basically he is saying here that this type of society would lack an appropriate social structure and any form of order.The only good thing that Plato could see coming out of a society run under a democracy would be that eventually it would progress into a form of aristocracy. The democratic leaders would basically be focused on pleasing the general public and so they would go on to steal money from all the wealthy individuals and distribute it throughout the community. Ideally a civil war between the democratic rulers and the rich men will come next and everyone will join sides with only one of the rulers. This man will become a king in a sense due to his knowledge and experience in the area of ruling a group of people. This philosopher king would then use the guardians overall support to control the unruly laymen of the community. As in Plato’s general idea this society would then continue to prosper under an aristocratic style government. He also says that within a society under democratic rule every person is free to do as they please. Freedom is a value under democracy that pay...
