Wherever magistrates were appointed from among those who complied with the injunctions of the laws, Socrates considered the government to be an aristocracy.
Books from Alibris: Xenophon
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Xenophon (444 BCE-357 BCE)
Wherever magistrates were appointed from among those who complied with the injunctions of the laws, Socrates considered the government to be an aristocracy.
Books from Alibris: Xenophon
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2 comments:
Sure.
Aristocracy was what "democracy" meant in the city-states of classical Greece: only for the powerful and wealthy citizens that possess a certain and minimum parcel of land.
While those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, I often find that the typical college student tunes out the ancients as not at all relevant to the present. Certainly an argument can be made for this perspective, but I am not going to make it.
I will say though, that some of the most important history is not that which occurred in the distant past, meaning centuries ago, but in the last century or even in the last half century.
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein is such a recent history book, making points succinctly which I have seen only glimmers of elsewhere. I would commend it for anyone who would like to understand, with crystal clarity, the roots of the current global economic meltdown.
Anthropositor
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