Tyranny Essay Research Paper Within The Republic

Tyranny Essay, Research Paper

Within The Republic, Plato states that tyranny is .the most diseased. kind

of society (Republic, 544c). Aristotle echoes this belief when he boldly asserts

within Politics that great honours should be .bestowed. on him who kills a

tyrant.. (Politics, 1267a15) From these quotes alone, it is clear that both

share a disdain for tyranny. This essay will compare and contrast Plato (the

Republic) with Aristotle (the Politics) on the causes and consequences of

tyranny. In order to grasp how Plato accounts for the development of tyranny, it

is important to understand how he equates the city with the soul. Within The

Republic, Plato explains that the soul consists of three parts: reason (wisdom),

spirit (courage/honour) and appetite (moderation/desire). The class structure of

Plato.s ideal city also embodies these divisions: The guardians or

.philosopher kings. represent wisdom and are entrusted to rule; the

auxiliaries represent courage and serve to protect the city; the producers

represent moderation and serve to provide the economic and agricultural base for

the city. While, as Plato connotes in this analogy, all three parts have a place

in constructing the ideal, reason is the guiding force that mediates and draws

from the competing nature of these parts to produce a just city. Accordingly,

since .change in every regime comes from that part of it which holds the

ruling offices,. (Republic, 551d) it is the loss of reason by the ruling class

which destroys the just city and provides for the eventual onset of tyranny, a

state devoid of harmony amongst its parts. In explaining how the ideal city

would eventually degenerate, Plato puts forth a four-stage linear digression

towards tyranny. From the ideal state, a timocracy is first born from the love

of honour. As wealth becomes cherished among the citizens, timocracy gives way

to oligarchy. In an oligarchic state, the desire for freedom or license leads to

the rise of democracy. And finally, as the desire for freedom increases and

becomes limitless, the city is said to fall into a state of tyranny. Thus, for

Plato, a tyrant is a democrat who has lost all restraint. While Plato views the

decay towards tyranny as a uniform digression, the presence of this widespread

decay ultimately creates the conditions for one person to rise to power.

(Republic, 565d) Within this digression, reason is gradually overcome by

appetite until an .insatiable desire. for freedom transforms a democracy

into a tyranny. While such terms as .freedom. and .democracy. may elicit

certain connotations for the contemporary reader, it is important to keep in

mind that Plato views a regime that promotes freedom and license as its primary

objective as a place where reason is overcome by desire. While citizens of such

regimes might equate unrestricted democracy with freedom, as Plato explains,

.the real tyrant is, even if he doesn.t seem so.in truth a real slave..

(Republic, 579d) In practical terms, Plato views money and private property as

the floodgate to this decay: Whenever they.ll possess private land, houses,

and currency, they.ll become. masters and enemies instead of allies of the

other citizens; hating and being hated, plotting and being plotted against,

they.ll lead their lives far more afraid of the enemies within than those

without. Then they themselves as well as the rest of the city are already

rushing towards a destruction that lies very near. (Republic, 417a) Since in the

ideal city or soul, a proper balance of its parts produces justice, tyranny, in

Plato.s view, is the complete absence of justice resulting from an emphasis on

the search for private property and self-gratification. While Aristotle

acknowledges that a philosopher king, as presented by Plato, should be allowed

to rule, he is skeptical that such a figure could exist. He is critical of The

Republic as he does not see Plato.s tripartite construction as a probable or

even desirable structure. Choosing a more pragmatic lens, Aristotle approaches

politics by drawing upon the existent structures of government, namely monarchy

as the rule by one person, aristocracy as the rule by the few and constitutional

government as the rule by the many. Outlining their negative counterparts,

Aristotle refers to the rule by the many as a democracy, by the few as an

oligarchy, and by the one as a tyranny. .For tyranny is a kind of monarchy

which has in view the interest of the monarch only.. (Politics, 1279b) While

this list may resemble that of Plato.s, Aristotle refutes the linear

digression into tyranny put forth within The Republic. (Politics, 1303a15-30)

Although Aristotle advocates a mixed regime or .polity. as the best possible

political system, he believes that, in certain situations, other types of

government would not only be successful but also desirable. While a monarch

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