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Democracy, Equality, and Eidê: A Radical View from Book 8 of Plato's Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Arlene W. Saxonhouse
Arlene W. Saxonhouse*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Abstract

A Plato opposed to democracy fills the literature, and while some scholars question whether Plato adequately captures Socrates' possibly favorable views of democracy, Plato himself remains a paragon of elitism. I argue that Plato's response to democracy is far more theoretically interesting than simple disdain for the unenlightened masses. Rather, in Book 8 of the Republic he explores the fundamental tensions of a regime identified with freedom and equality, which he presents as characterized by formlessness, and the epistemological and theoretical problems posed by the absence of forms (eidê). Eidê give structure and identity to regimes and to their citizens; they are necessary for intellection and philosophy, but they are also the grounds for compulsion. Plato's analysis of democracy thus becomes a more serious challenge for democratic theorists than previously recognized.

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Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 92 , Issue 2 , June 1998 , pp. 273 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1998

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