In Book 8, Socrates talks about the four forms of government that are possible in any state. They are: Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy and Tyranny (in order of their importance). Socrates also connects the human character with the state as the states grow out of it.
Aristocracy is what Socrates is talking about in all his previous conversations with his fellows. A state where the guardians are well trained in music and gymnastics and are kept away from material pleasures and philosophers have the highest respect in a just society. Further, his main focus was to explain Timocracy which lies between Aristocracy and Oligarchy. He says Timocracy, a government of honor, arises from aristocracy which is a government of the best. The main cause of shift from best to honor is the change in the pattern of breeding and improper guidance to the deserving ones in the absence of philosophers. He says that breeding of pure with pure is must to have best and otherwise there is degradation of blood and hence the rule of state but I still refute this concept of controlled breeding among likes only. People may chose whom they want to have sex with and procreate. Regarding the passing of best genes, I think that genes are much more dependent on the random behavior of nature and not on who is the ruler. Even the rulers are found with the children of several disabilities even after the intercourse among the pure ones. One more attribute that Socrates talks about is that the ruler become covetous of money and starts loving music more than gymnastics and the insatiable desire for money become strong with the passing of age in Timocracy.
Oligarchy is described as the rule of rich and deprivation of poor along with the honor given to the wealthy and dishonor to the virtuous. It comes out of Timocracy where the person becomes covetous of money and with the passage of time, become more and more engulfed in the money matters and loses the track of state health. Fixing of sum for the citizenship and other orders and titles in the state by oligarch ruler is in the core of the heart of the state which gives rise to the conspiracies against the super rich by the utterly poor and the good guardians become extinct due to lack of money. Also, when a rich becomes poor, then he is just a drone in the honeycomb who actually does nothing due the lack of skill that makes a just state.
Next comes the Democracy which is considered to originate from oligarchy where the poor conspires against the rich and overthrows their rule and establishes a state where voluntary contract is made at their own risk for equal share of freedom and power. The good thing about democracy is that their is variety of human natures which brings out new ideas and gives people a voice and make them feel heard. But at the same time, people develop a 'don't care' attitude because everybody has right to speak whatever they want and the good and evil are treated equally which eventually leads to disorder and anarchy in the long run. Also, people start following unnecessary pleasures arising out of passion instead of desire which Socrates explains with the example of food and condiments where food is essential for survival and condiments are just good in taste which falls in the category of luxury. I don't think that luxury is a bad thing as every person aspires to have a good living and happiness with all the means that are available no matter they come in the form of condiments or other things. Further, he compares liberty as a sweet word for anarchy which I totally disagree with. Excess and uncontrolled availability is bad in every case be it the music or gymnastics or liberty. We can't say that liberty is bad just because we have to handle more thoughts and desires as compared to the clerical way of aristocracy where people are ordered to pursue a selected dream. Also, lack of law and order in liberal society is equal in measure as compared to that in spartan society that Socrates is considering as a perfect society. The reason being is that human nature can be controlled to a certain extent but it doesn't last long. Liberal people as well conservative people, both need governments because in an ideal society, you wouldn't need a govenment. If pursuit of happiness can be termed as distracted existence in the name of joy and bliss of freedom then rule of pure can be said a hypocritical existence in the name of joy and bliss of dictatorship.
The final one is Tyranny which is supposed to be originating from democracy where suddenly a hero people rises and then he becomes tyrannical. It starts with the extreme use of liberty and the people start going against the ruler due to the excess of power share with the wealthy and orderly class that feeds the political class. Also, people start behaving equally with everyone and consider them alike. Scholar despise tutors and young despise old and vice versa. Child becomes his own father figure and starts becoming a drone due the lack of proper guidance. Socrates compares the liberty exercised by masses to the liberty given to horses and donkeys as they will run over everyone who comes in their way when they are freemen. Socrates puts idle spendthrifts and drones of oligarchy as the main motivators of tyranny as, due to democracy, they always have share in power and are fed by the second class i.e. the wealthy class in order to work out the state policies in their favor and hence the third class i.e. masses, which also is the largest group, brings out a here to whom they are devoted by heart and never conspire which, ultimately, establishes the tyranny. This process of birth of oppressive regimes is quite understandable but I think that democracy cannot be blamed for tyranny because in aristocracy, lack of philosophers can directly lead the ruler to enjoy the absolute power and become the dictator e.g., the rule of Caligula Caeser after Tiberius in Rome is a historical example of tyrannical rule from aristocracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment