Plato's political philosophy

Criticism of democracy

In the Republic, Plato's Socrates raises a number of criticisms of democracy. He claims that democracy is a danger due to excessive freedom. He also argues that, in a system in which everyone has a right to rule, all sorts of selfish people who care nothing for the people but are only motivated by their own personal desires are able to attain power. He concludes that democracy risks bringing dictators, tyrants, and demagogues to power. He also claims that democracies have leaders without proper skills or morals and that it is quite unlikely that the best equipped to rule will come to power. In the Laws, Plato advanced a critique of democracy by grounding political authority in divine reason rather than popular will, presenting human law as an expression of a higher, god-given order that implicitly legitimized hierarchical governance and the leadership of a cultivated elite over mass rule.

Ship of State

Plato, through the character of Socrates, gives an analogy related to democracy: he asks us to imagine a ship whose owner surpasses all those on the ship in height and strength, but is slightly deaf; his vision is similarly impaired, and his knowledge of navigation is just as bad. He then asks us to imagine the sailors, all of whom are arguing about which of them should have control of the helm while none have studied navigation. The sailors don't even know that the craft of navigation existed. All of the sailors try to convince the owner to hand over control of the ship to them, and whichever convinces him becomes the navigator representing a philosopher-king.