Plato and the Criticism of Modern Democracy

As a form of government, democracy is one of the most challenging of concepts in political philosophy. Plato presented two fundamental objections to democracy and in this way he became one of its first and most important critics. Nevertheless, democracy has tested numerous models throughout history. This is true to the extent that modern democracy is only apparently similar to classical democracy. Keeping this in mind, it is possible to ask, ‘Can Plato’s objections to classic democracy be applied to modern democracy?’ This article uses the descriptive-comparative method and analyzes three views regarding the possibility of applying Plato’s objections to modern democracy. According to the first and second view, it is useless to examine Plato’s objections in the modern era. This is because they are either invalid or because modern democracy is essentially different from classical democracy. For this reason, it is safe from the criticisms of Plato. The third view – that we coincidentally adhere to – accepts the substantial unity of the two democracies and also believes that the fundamental faults of classical democracy also plague in modern democracy.