Democracy. I believe he did not favor “democracy” at least the one practiced (he thinks it failed) during that time (he blames that for the death of Socrates). Although one could argue he meant “humanity” or the citizenry, ie he equates such democratic failure (then) to humanity (then) as he thinks a man’s charater reflects the state he lives in. At least that’s how I understands the flow of that thought. 🤷♂️
Discussion
Ah yes I remember democracy but I never equated humanity/citizenry with democracy. I think you may be right - if you unpackage democracy, then citizenry is one of the components
Democracy is a failed experiment
Agreed
Though to Churchills point I’m not sure what is better. In anything I don’t think there are absolutes - forms of govt ebbs and flows through cultures and time
Agree. I think a government borne out of pure human rationality can cause a “constant”. Aristotle, Kant, Spinoza talks about rationality as ultimate end in a way (the highest virtue). Unfortunately we’ve buried that a longtime ago and replaced the reflective capacity to rationalize overpowered by the primitive brain’s “desire”.
Good convo to end my Monday night. Thank you both for engaging.
This is gold!!
As long as another human is in the position of authority to another fundamentally we will have issues