Essay On Socrates Opinion Of Democracy

The source of Socrates’ suspicion of the democracy stems from the argument that the general public is ignorant and therefore lacks the knowledge or truth to make the best decision for government. The foundation of democracy is based on majority rule, however because the majority is unaware of what truly is good for them, by virtue of their ignorance, the masses are not capable of electing a leader fit to run the state or government. Socrates contends that due to mass ignorance, the majority will vote in favor of what is more pursuable rather than what is logical (459b). Therefore, the consequence of democracy is inherent corruption in the governing structure due to ignorance.

Socrates contends that the art of oratory reveals the weakness of democratic rule by which the best orator rather than the most knowledgeable can convince the masses without reason or logic. In his dialogue with Gorgias Socrates affirms this claim that a speaker “could
Socrates asserts the effectiveness of the dialectic relationship and his “method is to call in support of [his] statements the evidence of a single witness, and to take his vote alone” (474a). Throughout the dialogue Socrates attempts to persuade three rhetoricians into a dialogue, with the intention of unearthing the truth, in a consistent manner, with each conceding to the Socrates’ appeal to reason until Socrates’ dialogue with Calicles. This is where the weakness is revealed because had Socrates been able to persuade Calicles this would have been a victory for the dialectical relationship, which Socrates’ argues for in favor of rhetoric. However Calicles engages in the art of not listening to Socrates’ reason and therefore the Socratic philosophy could not be vindicated as a true form of political art because of Calicles’ refusal to