A democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employment

[Ed Cryer]

Does Aristotle's view have anything to do with the fact that our world
is in such a bloody mess?

[Simius]

Il giorno venerdì 12 aprile 2013 15:59:05 UTC+2, Ed Cryer ha scritto:
> Does Aristotle's view have anything to do with the fact that our world
>
> is in such a bloody mess?

Dear Ed,

Well, there is no doubt that Kennedy (all), Bush (all), Obama, Kohl, Merkel, and Sarkoszy, to name but a few, are of low birth, but Macmillan, Churchill, Douglas-Home, David Cameron, and Boris Johnson (good he is not a leader of the UK, nevertheless, he stands up for democracy) were/are certainly not.

From this, one could deduce, that it was not necessarily democracy that caused this mess, but the low birth individuals who purported their version of it for their own evil gains.

Things were much better when Britain ruled two thirds of the world and, of course, the waves.

Regards
Simon

[greg lee]

On Apr 12, 3:59 am, Ed Cryer <e...@somewhere.in.the.uk> wrote:
> Does Aristotle's view have anything to do with the fact that our world
> is in such a bloody mess?

I think that it's all a matter of scale.

Democracy probably works best in small communities where a town hall
type setting can accomodate participatory decision making.

The larger a country becomes, the less suitable democracy becomes,
i.e., democracy was never meant for empires.

[Ed Cryer]

Peter J Ross wrote:
> In humanities.classics on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:59:05 +0100, Ed Cryer

> wrote:
>
>> Does Aristotle's view have anything to do with the fact that our world
>> is in such a bloody mess?
>

> 1. Was Pericles a man of low birth, no property, and vulgar
> employment? Are David Cameron and Nick Clegg?
>
> 2. Is modern representative democracy similar enough to ancient
> participatory democracy for a statement about one to be meaningfully
> applied to the other?
>
> 3. Is our world in a bloody mess?
>
>

1. Far from it. Under Themistocles and then Pericles Athens thrived. But
after Pericles' demise it got tossed about in the hands of demagogues,
so that by Aristotle's day it didn't look so healthy.

2. I quite agree. I stood on the Pnyx about a year ago and got the feel
of an Assembly meeting there, looking down on the Agora, and across to
the Acropolis and Areopagus. It was a very raw and real feel. You can
even see some way out towards Eleusis.

3. I doubt anyone can quantify "bloody mess". One man's meat is another
man's poison; sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander.
After the lousiest century in the known history of the world, perhaps
the 21st doesn't look too bad so far.

Ed

[John Briggs]

It didn't get off to a great start in 2001...
--
John Briggs