01:790:371 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Cursus Honorum, Athenian Democracy, Callicles
10 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
If wealth is the primary value of a society (versus freedom), it is an oligarchy. Socrates says that he does not engage in politics (cid:0) he is wary of engaging in politics because he doesn"t believe that democracy should be just about competition/winning. The men who typically win in athenian democracy are wealthy; he is not political because he does not agree with what the. Athenians think democracy is: it is not about the common good, it is not about the good of the polity. He thinks of politics in a way that is different from the athenians. Athenians are all about winning in the courts with their flowery rhetoric and whatnot. Socrates is trying to be the stinging fly who shows people that this is not a democracy! Democracies should not be all about winning should be about deliberation. Socrates is saying that athens is governed by self-interest and ownership. This is what leads to things being badly done.
