8.7: The Democratic Soul

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 94563

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

See 558c-562a. The democratic soul is like the oligarchic soul in being ruled by the appetitive part, but whereas the necessary desires (the beneficial appetites) are dominant in the oligarchic soul, unnecessary desires (the drones of the soul) are, in the democratic soul, on at least an equal footing. In the story Socrates tells, a young man, having been raised in an oligarchic household, “tastes the honey of the drones” and begins associating with people who can provide him with every sort of appetitive pleasure. Not having been educated well, the rational part of his soul has nothing to say to dissuade him. Just as the rational part works in the oligarchic soul to figure out ways to acquire and retain wealth, its cleverness now comes to be exercised in finding creative ways of achieving these dissolute pleasures. What becomes of such a person? “If he’s lucky,” Socrates says, “and does not go beyond the limits in his bacchic frenzy, and if, as a result of his growing somewhat older, the great tumult in him passes, he welcomes back some of the exiles” – some of the neglected desires, for wealth, for honor, for learning (of a sort) – “and ceases to surrender himself completely to the newcomers. Then, putting all his pleasures on an equal footing, he lives, always surrendering rule over himself to whichever desire comes along, as if it were chosen by lot, until it is satisfied; and after that to another, dishonoring none but satisfying all equally.” This makes for a somewhat disorderly life, but the democratic person considers it “pleasant, free, and blessedly happy.”

What does it mean to call someone a “well-rounded person”? Are democratic people, with their equal valuing of all pleasures, more well- rounded than aristocratic people?
How might a democratic person practice philosophy differently than an aristocratic person?
What is so bad about democratic souls that Socrates ranks them just one step above the most unjust of souls?
Interpersonal love is an important part of life, and it is interesting, given how wide-ranging the discussion in the Republic is, how little attention Socrates gives to it. Suppose one were to ask Socrates whether each of the four types of persons discussed so far – the aristocratic, the timocratic, the oligarchic, and the democratic – would love other people in the same way or in characteristically different ways. How might he reply? What is it to love a person?