Plato and democracy’s ambiguous beauty (ii): the tension between philosophy and democracy

Authors

  • Alexandre Franco de Sá PUCPR, Paraná (Brasil); Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_20_1

Keywords:

democracy, crowd, philodoxy, tyranny, power

Abstract

The opposition between philosophy and philodoxy in Plato’s thought seems to suggest that philosophy could be taken, at first sight, as the sketch of an alternative political project to democracy. If democracy lies on the crowd’s power, and the opinions (doxai) current among it, philosophy would rest on philosopher’s power, i.e. on the power of those who possess the “art of ruling”. The present paper focuses on the insufficiency of this first approach and questions the relationship between philosophy and power. We will argue that Plato places this relationship on a twofold notion. On the one hand, the notion that if philosophy would have enough power to oppose the democratic city, this power, consisting in absolute tyranny, would mean the corruption of philosophy as such. On the other hand, the notion that if philosophy rest exclusively on its arguments with no relationship with power whatsoever, it would be simply powerless and have no place within the polis.

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References

FOUCAULT, M. (2008). Le gouvernement de soi et des autres. Cours au Collège de France (1982-1983). Paris, Seuil.

MONOSON, Sara S. (2000). Plato’s Democratic En-tanglements. Princeton, Princeton University Press.https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400823741

ROSEN, S. (2005). Plato’s Republic. A study. New Haven & London, Yale University Press.

SCHOFIELD, M. (2006). Plato. Political Philosophy. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

STRAUSS, L. (1975). The Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws. Chicago e Londres, The University of Chicago Press.

STRAUSS, L. (1984). The City and Man. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press.

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Published

2017-05-02

How to Cite

Franco de Sá, A. (2017). Plato and democracy’s ambiguous beauty (ii): the tension between philosophy and democracy. Revista Archai, (20), 15. https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_20_1

Issue

No. 20 (2017): No. 20 (2017): Revista Archai nº20 (May, 2017)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2025 Alexandre Franco de Sá

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