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Running Head: POLITICAL LEGITIMACY

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Political legitimacy-good state
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POLITICAL LEGITIMACY

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Introduction
These two great Ancient Greek thinkers and philosophers Plato and Aristotle, attract me
because of their political views that depicted Democracy as the inferior form of government, yet
disagreeing on a lot of other philosophical principals. I was intrigued to pursue their ideas and
opinions on their ideal forms of governments and democracy. Both of these Greek thinkers were
unapologetically elitist. Additionally, they both strongly criticize democracy as an inherently
corrupt and inefficient form of government. They lived at a period when Greece was being
heralded as a bastion of democracy in the Ancient time's known world, the precursor to the
governments we often practice and value today. Just like their predecessor Socrates, who was
convicted by people who could not stomach criticisms, Aristotle and his mentor Plato seem
actually to have had a dislike of democracy.
Plato political views
Plato, one of the founders of political philosophy, was not a proponent of democracy. He
believed that many leaders that were chosen by men at that time were unfit for ruling. He argued
this point by maintaining that humans were superficial, shallow and ignorant and if they were
given a chance to lead and rule a society, these qualities would often manifest themselves into
real injustices. He categorized different Greek governments in a hierarchical devolutionary way,
by stipulating that an oligarch would lead to democracy, which would eventually lead to tyranny.
Having seen his Mentor Socrates get convicted to death by Athenian men who could not tolerate
criticism, he wholly concluded that democracy was an unjust and unfair system of government.
(Mason, 2010).

Plato believed that democratic citizens only cared for money and wealth, often
disregarding the value of virtue and good. He observed that if the system were democratic, then

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those aristocrats/politicians on the top would corrupt the masses to agree with them, and this
would eventually pave the way for tyranny where the majority would ultimately rule with fear.
Plato goes ahead to suggest that an ideal ruler of a government could only ever be a philosopher,
and only these selected few educated men, would ever be capable of delivering an effective
government. Plato says that democratic people only poses little tolerance for argument, and that
is why the mob rule sustains their political way of lives. Plato notes that the mob rule, is those
people who would worship a champion, whom they have set over them, and nurse into greatness,
viewing him as a protector even when he is wrong. When this person arises above the ground, he
controls the masses who overwhelmingly rally behind him (Habib, 2014). He notes that, when
the mob is challenged with the truth, they overly turn violent, aggressive and defensive.
Democracy ultimately gives in to the will of these people, becoming inherently depraved into
tyranny.
Knowing that Plato had lived through the democratic period in Athens government and
the oligarch period when Spartans that had conquered Greek installed wealthy oligarchists as
rulers, he had seen all the disadvantages of both systems. He contended that, because we as
humans were made of three parts, not all of us possessed all the parts aligned in a healthy
balance, the appetite, spirit, and reason. He continues to argue that, its results, would be
ambition, greed and foolishness rule among the unbalanced people. Therefore, he believed that
good leadership could only be extended by highly learned philosophers, who would put the
interest of others before their own. He argues, the lower class was linked to the appetite of land
and controls the wealthy, the warrior class to spirits of living by a code of honor and the ruling
class linked to reason and wisdom. Therefore, he notes that the philosopher kings will prefer

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seeking truth rather than ruling, using wisdom, and this would make them the best rulers,
obeying the law by taking their turns as rulers.
Plato had already looked at four existing forms of governments at the time and had found
all of them unstable. Of all, he admired Timocracy, a military state like Sparta, that was based on
honor, but concluded it would still fail due to desire to accumulate gold that...