(which has the virtue of honor but also has the vice of
poverty). This, then, is overthrown by an oligarchy
whose wealth corrects the poverty of timocratic gov-
ernment but brings the vice of greed. It is supplanted
by a democracy whose creed of EQUALITYcorrects the
oligarchic greed but brings the disorder of ANARCHY
and FREEDOM. Finally, the individual freedom and
licentiousness of democracy brings forth the order of
TYRANNY, which establishes peace through cruelty and
oppression. The cycle of political change is logical
and inevitable.
This explains the disdain Plato had for popular or
democratic government, which continues in the West-
ern tradition in monarchism, aristocracy, CONSERVATIVE
thought, and FASCISM. For Plato, the average person is
stupid and selfish, is concerned only for his or her
own personal interest, and is envious of others. If the
majority of these simpletons rule (as in a democracy),
all standards and order will disappear. All authority
will be questioned, and anarchy will ensue. Soon, sub-
jects will disobey rulers, students will be disrespectful
of their teachers, the young will revel against their
elders, and children will resist their parents. Anarchy
and instability constantly affects democracy. To be
elected, candidates have to pander to the voters’ inter-
ests and whims and so cannot have any principles.
Democracy is doomed to failure and eventually leads
to DICTATORSHIP. This is why Aristotle, the English
CONSTITUTION, and the American Founders (e.g.,
James MADISON) developed a mixed republic (rather
than a pure democracy) of kingship, aristocracy, and
democracy. It also explains why later in his life, Plato
(in his book The Laws) establishes rule by regulations
rather than the character of the rulers and emphasizes
the importance of a nation’s religion for promoting
morals.
Plato remains one of the major Western political
thinkers in history: He affected much of the social phi-
losophy that came after him.
Further Readings
Stalley, R. An Introduction to Plato’s Laws.Oxford, Eng.: Black-
well, 1983.
pluralism
A political theory that sees society as made up of
many (a “plurality”) groups and INTERESTS, with the
government balancing and moderating their influ-
ence. Growing out of the SOCIAL-CONTRACTtheory of
John LOCKE, pluralism is most deftly developed by
American Founder James MADISON. According to
Madison’s theory in THE FEDERALIST PAPERS, a large
REPUBLICcan better ensure individual and minority
RIGHTSbecause it contains more groups that counter-
act each other, preventing any one group (economic,
social, regional, religious) from dominating everyone
else. Drawing from his Protestant CHRISTIANITYof John
CALVIN, with its emphasis on human sin and selfish-
ness, Madison constructs a U.S. CONSTITUTION with
divided power, FEDERALISM, and CHECKS AND BALANCES
to reflect the pluralism in his society. The idea is that
a diversity of interests prevents TYRANNY, commends
compromise, and preserves the individual rights to
FREEDOMof speech, press, assembly, religion, and pri-
vate PROPERTY. Governmental policy and LAWcome out
of the competition of various interest groups, encour-
aging organized participation in politics, lobbying,
and so on.
This pluralist ideal has largely worked in the
United States, where no single group or monopoly has
been able to control the government completely for
long periods of time.
The criticism of pluralistic politics has generally
come from CONSERVATIVE thinkers (such as PLATO,
Edmund BURKE, Alexis de TOCQUEVILLE, and Cardinal
NEWMAN) who dislike the mediocrity and moral rela-
tivism of pluralism. In a purely pluralistic democracy,
all interests and values are considered equal, leaving
no absolute, objective standard for right and wrong,
just and unjust. A transcendent ideal (in God, the
Bible, the church, and so on), is necessary to measure
different values and interests in society. The logical
conclusion of pluralism, for these critics, is the cul-
tural “diversity” in the United States that asserts ANI-
MAL RIGHTS, HOMOSEXUALrights, and children’s rights
against more traditional hierarchies of moral and social
systems.
Nevertheless, pluralism is expanding as the pre-
ferred social system in the world, as MODERNcountries
become more diverse in economics, religion, educa-
tion, and ethnic background. The premier value of
TOLERANCEof (if not acceptance or affirming of) differ-
ence follows the establishment of a pluralistic culture.
Political pluralism tends to accompany competitive,
free market (CAPITALIST) economies, LIBERTYof belief
(religion), and freedom of press. All of these features
of pluralism are considered essential to Modern INDUS-
TRIALISMand democracy.pluralism 233