OK, the Roman system was better, because it had checks and balances.
You could do the same with direct representation. Have a constitution, wich can only be modified by a 2/3rds majority. Require a 2/3rds majority to execute philosophers, start wars, and murder the male population of subject states.
And Socrates was not just a kindly old Zen master, preaching peace and understanding. He was a bright guy, but as he developed philosophy he also preached against democracy in favor of some kind of military dictatorship run by philosopher kings. Some of his students led bloody revolts, overthrew the democracy, and executed hundreds of democrats before they were eventually toppled. He wasn't quite the Osama Bin Ladin of Athens, but he was responsible (in a sense) for a lot of deaths. But he couldn't be executed for that, because there was an amnesty; so they got him on some trumped up charge related to his religious skepticism.
Of course, his more philosophical (and less political) followers (i.e. Plato) painted his execution as a great miscarriage of justice.
"some kind of military dictatorship run by philosopher kings" — while Plato advocates this through the mouth of Socrates, most scholars believe it's Plato using Socrates as a hand puppet in this and many other later dialogues, not an actual recollection of things Socrates might have said, as is more likely for some of Plato's earlier dialogues. Forgive me the nit-picking :-)
He was a bright guy, but as he developed philosophy he also preached against democracy in favor of some kind of military dictatorship run by philosopher kings.
It seems like you're attributing the ideas in The Republic to Socrates. Of the Socratic dialogues written by Plato, some of them were fairly faithful representations of conversations Socrates actually had and others used Socrates as a fictional character to argue for Plato's ideas. The Republic falls firmly in the latter category.
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OK, the Roman system was better, because it had checks and balances.
You could do the same with direct representation. Have a constitution, wich can only be modified by a 2/3rds majority. Require a 2/3rds majority to execute philosophers, start wars, and murder the male population of subject states.
And Socrates was not just a kindly old Zen master, preaching peace and understanding. He was a bright guy, but as he developed philosophy he also preached against democracy in favor of some kind of military dictatorship run by philosopher kings. Some of his students led bloody revolts, overthrew the democracy, and executed hundreds of democrats before they were eventually toppled. He wasn't quite the Osama Bin Ladin of Athens, but he was responsible (in a sense) for a lot of deaths. But he couldn't be executed for that, because there was an amnesty; so they got him on some trumped up charge related to his religious skepticism.
Of course, his more philosophical (and less political) followers (i.e. Plato) painted his execution as a great miscarriage of justice.
"some kind of military dictatorship run by philosopher kings" — while Plato advocates this through the mouth of Socrates, most scholars believe it's Plato using Socrates as a hand puppet in this and many other later dialogues, not an actual recollection of things Socrates might have said, as is more likely for some of Plato's earlier dialogues. Forgive me the nit-picking :-)
He was a bright guy, but as he developed philosophy he also preached against democracy in favor of some kind of military dictatorship run by philosopher kings.
It seems like you're attributing the ideas in The Republic to Socrates. Of the Socratic dialogues written by Plato, some of them were fairly faithful representations of conversations Socrates actually had and others used Socrates as a fictional character to argue for Plato's ideas. The Republic falls firmly in the latter category.
Oh yeah, The Republic is a scary book. An alternative title could be Brave Ancient World.