Aristotle on Oligarchy vs Democracy
Aristotle’s Politics, ~350 BCE, Book 3: Oligarchy is when men of property have the government in their hands; democracy, the opposite, when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers The argument seems to show that, whether in oligarchies or in democracies, the number of the governing body, whether the greater number, […]
Leisure vs. “Total Work”
It’s time we take leisure seriously. Today, in our culture of productivity-fetishism, we have succumbed to the tyrannical notion of “work/life balance” and have come to see the very idea of “leisure” not as essential to the human spirit but as self-indulgent luxury reserved for the privileged or deplorable idleness reserved for the lazy The Greeks […]
Aristotle on the Inequality of Property
Politics by Aristotle. Written in 350 BCE Book 2 Our purpose is to consider what form of political community is best of all for those who are most able to realize their ideal of life. We must therefore examine not only this but other constitutions, both such as actually exist in well-governed states, and any […]
The Problem with Plato
Our modern society would have you convinced that we owe a great deal to the likes of Plato and Aristotle. School books are filled with praise for these so called “lovers of wisdom”. We are all too familiar with Plato, but how many of us are familiar with the teachings of Democritus? How many of […]