Plato on participating in politics
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors,” is a quote often attributed to the Greek philosopher Plato. I frequently come across this quote on social media. It was also used in Suriname last year during the launch of Passie voor Suriname. And just last week, someone from another Surinamese political organization shared this quote with me as well.
In all the instances I’ve seen so far, this quote is used to motivate people to take action themselves and actively participate in politics.
The quote appears to be from Plato’s work The Republic, in which Plato describes a discussion between the Greek philosopher Socrates and several other individuals. However, when we take a look at the source, it quickly becomes clear that the quote has been taken completely out of context and gives a misleading impression of what was actually said.
According to Plato, Socrates explained to one of his discussion partners that it would be very difficult to persuade the better people in a society to rule over others. Due to their wisdom, they would not be susceptible to greed for honor, nor the financial rewards associated with high positions in political office. Moreover, according to Socrates, these better people consider it disgraceful to pursue political office on their own initiative. Therefore, Socrates argued that the only way to get these better people to rule over others would be through compulsion or by imposing some form of penalty.
Socrates then goes on to say that the chief penalty is to be governed by someone worse if a man will not himself hold office and rule. It is from fear of this, as it appears to me, that the better sort hold office when they do, and then they go to it not in the expectation of enjoyment nor as to a good thing, but as to a necessary evil and because they are unable to turn it over to better men than themselves or to their like.
Socrates: “So there must be imposed some compulsion and penalty to constrain them to rule if they are to consent to hold office.”
Based on this it’s already clear that Socrates did not intend to encourage people to participate in politics. On the contrary, Socrates further states that if there should be a city of good men only, immunity from office-holding would be as eagerly contended for as office is now.
In other words, according to Socrates, the eager pursuit of good people would actually be to avoid holding office and not to participate in politics.
This aligns with the conclusion reached by J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the popular book series The Lord of the Rings, namely that the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.
In other words, politicians, activists, and others who seek the opportunity to gain power and rule over others are the least suitable people for it. Ruling over others is so bad that, according to Socrates, you can only get good people to do it by threatening them with punishment.
And this is also what we see in reality. According to Tjeerd Andringa, associate professor of cognitive science at the University of Groningen, it’s the worst kind of people who rule.
To break away from this, according to Andringa, a psychological revolution is needed. People need to learn to see that they would be so much better off if they took their fate into their own hands and stopped depending on incapable, power-hungry, or even evil authorities. Self-empowerment, citizens who empower themselves, is the key to a better world.
But unfortunately, too many people still see ruling over others as a “necessary evil,” as Socrates describes it. And believing in a “necessary evil” essentially means believing that evil is necessary. In my view, it’s not wise to hold such a belief. It’s equally unwise to let yourself be motivated or manipulated by fear to do something you would not normally do and which you know is not right. This also applies to the better people who, according to Socrates, decide to rule over others out of fear, against their own better judgement.
We are slowly approaching losing the elections for the umpteenth time. Hopefully the above will help in making a better choice then.
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