Platos Republic: The Emergence Of A Tyranny From A Democracy Essay Example

Book VIII of Plato’s “Republic” revolves around Socrates’ ideas of a flawed state. Written as a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon then later the former with Adeimantus, the book begins with an explanation of the nature of a true state and true human as discussed in the previous books. Consequently, the dialogues continue with a discussion on four types of governments. Each form of government originates from a certain type of human character. This paper seeks to determine the factors that lead from an oligarchy to a democratic state then later to the rise of a tyranny in that systematic order.
Socrates believes an oligarchy government rises from a peoples’ desire to accumulate riches because such a state chooses its ruler depending on an assessment of wealth (245). Eventually, oligarchy states honor money at the expense of virtues thus piloting the people to respect the rich and appoint them as leaders. Therefore, the rulers are richer than the citizens are, and this fact leads to the division of the people into two groups. There will be the rich, and then the poor as each person aligns himself with a group fitting his wealth status (247). With the majority of the people living in poverty, Socrates argues that an oligarchic state contains many evildoers such as thieves and robbers because those in poverty resort to stealing as a means of survival. In addition, as rulers are appointed based on wealth and not their qualifications, an oligarchic city is like a ship without a qualified pilot, where “people will make a very bad voyage” (247). The rule of an oligarchic type of leader leads to democracy through the rise of the penniless inhabitants. According to the conversing thinkers, the poor will call for a revolution believing their leaders are the cause of their troubles.
Socrates thinks democratic state branches from an oligarchy one because people not only seek rights to act on their own desires, but overthrow the wealthy leaders in a bid to become rich as well. The connection is present when a leader fails to constitute a ban on unnecessary loans and over expenditure among his people (252). Eventually, the wealthy gain more money by imposing high interests on loans and the poor get poorer because they keep spending money they do not possess. With this in mind, Socrates believes that the city cannot acquire wealth and maintain control over its citizens. The lack of control is because people can practice personal choices such as the aforementioned option to overspend (254). Hence, democracy leads to a diverse society that in turn, allows the poor to live alongside the rich with the number of the impoverished far surpassing that of the rich (254-255). With the characteristics of democracy, Socrates states the election of a leader is done based on his promises to aid the majority poor, which is done by taking from the rich and giving to the poor (263).
Eventually, a tyrant rises from a leader who is torn between the prevailing poor population that elected him and the rich that offer financial benefits because he realizes the power he possesses. Although the philosopher portrays the democratic leader as an incompetent person, the same person is able to realize his power in terms of the angry poor population and wealth acquired from the rich and turns into a tyrant (263-264). By taking from the rich and redistributing a small portion to the poor, a tyrant manages to turn the two groups against each other and finally maintains his position as a leader by inciting wars and making himself relevant.