Socrates: Aretē and Democracy (original) (raw)

The problems analyzed in this text fall into the broadest understanding of political theology. Its subject is Socrates’ attitude toward democracy, and to be more precise, Socrates’ relations with the Athenian democracy of the 5th century. A standard viewpoint perceives Socrates as an unyielding critic of democracy, who attacks, derides and despises it. While reading Plato’s dialogues one may come to the conclusion that democracy was not Socrates’ political ideal. But was Socrates rightly perceived by his contemporaries as a misodemos and crypto-oligarch? One may argue – and this is the fundamental thesis of this paper – that Socrates’ relations with the Athenian democracy are more complex, and it is this complexity that is a problem. One may claim that, at least in the early dialogues, “Socrates and democracy” create different tensions than in later Plato’s dialogues. Plato deeply misunderstood the democracy outlined by the figure of Socrates and his practice of life as presented in...