PHIL 1010 Lecture 17: Democracy (Part Two)

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1010
• Professor: Kyle Bromhall

Document Summary

Plato had two arguments for why democracy inevitably devolved into tyranny: it glorifies freedom/liberty at the expense of social cohesion. Social cohesion is lost because the insatiable thirst for freedom ends up valorizing all forms of difference, especially behaviour or values. Neutrality towards conceptions of the good and equality of treatment between citizens leads to a situation where common social bonds are lost (important concept) The more we drift towards freedom, the more civil unrest there will be (and the more the rich will make off of it: it puts the least qualified in charge of steering the ship". The wrong people are chosen for government because not only are elections essentially a popularity contest, but citizens lack the basic competence required to tell who would be best for the job. Education is just as significant to rousseau as it was for plato democracy can only function with a well-informed citizenry.