Republic (Book VIII) by Plato
This post is part of my journey through the classic texts of Western civilization.
"It is difficult indeed to disturb a city thus constituted; but destruction comes to everything existing, and therefore even a fabric like this will not endure for ever, but it must be dissolved."
If you recall from the beginning of Book V, the discussion of the past few books has actually been a detour from where Socrates initially intended to steer the conversation towards. Having seen the brief excursion to completion, Socrates now returns to discussing the five different forms of government (constitutions) and how they ultimately relate to the individual soul. Throughout the discussion, we gain insight into Plato's views on the inevitability and cyclical nature of regime change.
I. Aristocracy
"the rule of the best..."
This is the ideal form of government for Plato, with the city ruled by a ruling class of philosopher-kings. The correlation to the individual soul is that this the best man, the one who can be described as good and just. As discussed in Book IV, this is the man whose soul is well-balanced, with the rational part of the soul ruling.
Seeing that this is the constitution that Plato has been describing this whole time, we will leave it at that.
II. Timocracy
"... the power or rule of honour."
Plato describes how an aristocracy, the ideal and just form of government, can degenerate into a timocracy. Inevitably, due to the fallibility and negligence of the rulers, they will not always succeed in choosing and raising up the best next generation to take their place. Eventually, these incompetent rulers will beget war and hatred, forming factions within the ruling class. After some struggle, the factions will compromise into a timocracy; the bad rulers will be averse to appointing wise rulers, choosing instead spirited people inclined towards war. The love of victory and honor will be predominant.
The corresponding man is he who is ruled by the spirit. As we remember from before, the just man is ruled by the mind with the aid of the spirit, not by the spirit itself. Thus, this sort of man ends up being a proud and honor-loving man, prone to act according to emotions at times. According to Socrates, this sort of man is formed from the contrast of a good father and a bad mother. The boy's father may be upright and honest, but his mother notices his lack of ambition and begins to complain about him. This influence from his mother (and from others alike) causes him to develop into the mean of his father and mother; he fosters the reasoning part of his soul like his father yet also develops his desiring and high-spirited part, wanting to have ambition and seek honor like his father did not.
"One thing is plain, I think; change in a constitution always begins from the governing class when there is a faction within; but so long as they are of one mind, even if they be a very small class, it is impossible to disturb them."
III. Oligarchy
"A constitution... according to property, in which the rich govern and the poor man has no share in government."
The next constitution in the cycle is an oligarchy. The further corruption from a timocracy to an oligarchy is very simple, as Plato explains. The love of money gets to the ruling class, and they invent new ways to spend more for themselves, eventually caring more about money than they do about virtue. "And when riches are honoured in a city, virtue and the good people are less honoured than the rich." Consequently, it is those who possess riches who are given seats in government, rather than those who possess virtue and wisdom. Plato compares this to a man who is brought on to pilot a ship because he is rich in spite of the poor man who is a better pilot. It is not difficult to see what would happen to the ship; it is the same with the polis.
"Now what is honoured anywhere is practised, and what is dishonoured is neglected."
Plato also implies that another downside of an oligarchy is that it inevitably produces an economic class warfare between the wealthy and the poor, causing discord.
The corresponding man is formed from a boy born to a timocratic father. At first, he imitates his father, like any boy does. Eventually, he witnesses his father fall from his status and power, and the family falls into poverty and low status. After such an experience and being humbled by poverty, will this boy not turn greedily to money? Reason and passion he will make into servants only for the purpose of acquiring wealth and honoring money. The love of honor the boy once knew is gone; in its place is the love of money. This is the oligarchic man.
IV. Democracy
"rule by a city's whole free male people, where all adult men are members of parliament, and attend it in person, and give their votes there."
From the oligarchy's love of money comes democracy. First, Plato once again stresses the point that either money or virtue will be honoured in the city—by necessity one will take place over the other. As described in the previous section on oligarchy, two economic classes would form: the wealthy ruling class and the poor. The poor will eventually revolt and often violently conquer the ruling class, after which they would set up the new constitution: the democracy.
"democracy, I suppose, comes into being when the poor conquer, and kill some of the other party and banish others, and share out the citizenship and government equally with the rest; and the offices in it are generally settled by lot."
This constitution would be defined by egalitarianism and freedom. "The city is full of freedom" with each man arranging his own private life according to what he desires. Naturally, this constitution would produce the most diverse city, as each individual lives differently.
Don't want to be ruled? No need for a ruler. Don't want to fight in war? No need to go to war. Can't be a judge/magistrate due to the law? Be a judge/magistrate in your own life. What a lovely and free life this would seem to be!
As with the previous constitutions, Plato proceeds to describe the corresponding man. The democratic man is the son of an oligarchic father, who is like him in manners. To further investigate the nature of the democratic man, Plato delves into a discussion on necessary/unnecessary desires.
A necessary desire is that which cannot be turned away; they benefit us when fulfilled. An example of this would be the desire for simple foods (e.g. bread and meat)—a denial of that desire would result in death.
On the contrary, an unnecessary desire is a desire which has no benefit and even causes harm to either body or the soul as regards wisdom and temperance. Plato places other foods in this category, as well as love-making. Unlike with a necessary desire, a man can train to rid himself of these unnecessary desires.
Whilst Plato describes the man ruled by necessary desires as the oligarchic man, the man ruled by unnecessary desires is the democratic man. The democratic man is formed when he is exposed to all sorts of pleasures of every variety and complexity—this of course is much different from his stingy upbringing. Eventually, these desires take over the young man, for there was no learning and wisdom ingrained in him through education that might have served as guardians and curbs to such a decadent lifestyle.
There begins in the man a twisting of virtues into vice, and vice into virtues. Anarchy is liberty, licentiousness is magnificence, immodesty is courage. On the other hand, shame is silliness, temperance is cowardice, moderation and decent spending are clownishness and vulgarity. Ultimately, this man goes wherever his strongest desires take him. There is no order and discipline in him.
V. Tyranny
The final stage in the cycle of degeneration is the constitution of tyranny.
The oligarchy degenerated into a democracy by the insatiate desire of riches and disregard of all else for its sake. In a similar manner, the democracy also sets before itself liberty as the ultimate desire and disregards all else. The slightest strictness from the rulers is met with chastisement from the people. Citizens who obey the rulers are ridiculed as willing slaves. Liberty must "go to all lengths."
All senses of hierarchy are lost due to the democratic principles of equality and egalitarianism. The father fears his own children, the son does not honor or fear his parents. Citizens and foreigners are the same. The pupil despises and shows no respect to the teacher, and the young stand up to their elders as equals. And of course, how great of an equality there is to be found between men and women!
"To do anything too much tends to take you to the opposite extreme, in weather and in plants and in living bodies, and so also in constitutions most of all."
In the midst of all this does the bud of tyranny begin to grow. Whereas in the oligarchic state, idle and extravagant men (who Plato calls drones) are excluded from government positions due to their low status, in democracy they make up the dominant political class. Two other classes emerge out of democracy, though. One is made up of those who are "orderly by nature"; these men generally become wealthy. The third and largest class is what Plato simply calls 'people'; this class is made up of average working-class citizens who have little interest or part in the political affairs of the city.
The drones incite the other two classes against each other. They tell the people that the wealthy are plotting against them as oligarchs, and the wealthy in turn come to actually resemble oligarchs as they seek to restrict the freedom of the people for protection.
"One thing is clear then... that when a tyrant appears, he grows simply and solely from a protectorship as the root."
In turn, the people set up a special protector to lead an uprising against the wealthy. And it is this protector that inevitably becomes a tyrant. At first, he is a man of peace, promising all sorts of things, freeing debts and distributing land to those about him. Yet, he is always seeking war for several reasons: in order that the people would want a leader, that he may tax heavily and keep the people poor, to keep the people pacified/distracted and less likely to plot against him, and to have an excuse to destroy those free-spirited men who will not endure his rule by exposing them to the enemy.
Indeed, the tyrant has no choice but to participate in the continual purge of any and all those around him who are a threat to his rule. This includes the best men—those who are brave, magnanimous, prudent, etc. In place of these good men, he places drones around him as bodyguards as well as freeing slaves to fulfill the same role.
The discussion on the correlating tyrannic man is saved for the next book.