Tristan Scott
Senior Member
Interesting article in New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/america-tyranny-donald-trump.html
Sullivan makes a good point, although what Plato is pointing out is one of the frailties of democracy, one that the founding fathers also recognized when they designed our Republic. (which doesn't safeguard us from a tyrant being elected, but does to some degree safeguard us from the resulting tyranny of such an election.) It is still interesting to see that Plato's description of a Tyrant seems to fit the Donald to a tee, and that his description of the social conditions that allow the tyrant to come to power also fit closely to the social dynamics we are experiencing today.
If you have time read the second half of Book VIII of Republic here: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.9.viii.html
Sullivan makes a good point, although what Plato is pointing out is one of the frailties of democracy, one that the founding fathers also recognized when they designed our Republic. (which doesn't safeguard us from a tyrant being elected, but does to some degree safeguard us from the resulting tyranny of such an election.) It is still interesting to see that Plato's description of a Tyrant seems to fit the Donald to a tee, and that his description of the social conditions that allow the tyrant to come to power also fit closely to the social dynamics we are experiencing today.
If you have time read the second half of Book VIII of Republic here: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.9.viii.html