The Problem With Athens

Plato's Analysis

Sometimes the best way to understand complicated issues is by observing a similar but entirely different situation where the same dynamics are at play. For our purposes, we can look to someone with unquestionable analytical ability, whose insights reveal both what went wrong in a given era and the adjustments that were needed in a society.

Plato clearly articulated what he believed was going wrong for Athens at the end of its “Golden Age.” He offered solutions to recover and establish an even more just and effective Athenian society. His evaluation verifies how crucial it is for the three realms of a society to work together in balanced significance and cooperation. To understand how America has reached its present crisis that has brought it to the brink of disaster, we must first grasp and appreciate this balance.

Readers of Democracy or Empire may be growing jaded by the persistent emphasis of the realms of society—an idea that may still seem relatively unfamiliar. Nevertheless, I stand confident that the balance and cooperation among the three realms are central for the corrections that must be made. My hope is that we can clearly articulate this when the time comes for reorganization, as it surely will. My fear is that we will return to the same imbalances and competitions that brought us to the present brink.

Plato was 24 when Athens fell to Sparta. In the years that followed, he came to see the recovering democracy of Athens as a society in a state of degeneration, believing its primary problem was that its fundamental institutions no longer functioned well or equitably. Plato referred to these as classes or stations; we are calling them realms. He pinpointed the need for a more efficient, coordinated relationship among the classes through mutual interdependence. He witnessed the problematic temptation of each class to dominate the others, inefficiently competing and interfering. Plato called for the realms to fulfill their own role with independence, while also maintaining mutual interdependence. In modern terms: each must stay in its lane, yet cooperate reasonably with the others.

Plato believed the structure of human nature was defined by three classes of society. He expressed this in terms entirely compatible with his philosophy: Reason, Spirit, and Appetite.

Reason, he held, was the office of the ruler. In his time, it was a given that there would be a ruler—a strongman—emerging from what we would call the ruling or aristocratic class. Plato proposed that this office should instead be held by someone of superior intelligence and disciplined training of the soul. Such a ruler, he posited, ought to be a philosopher-king, an agent of reason. The philosopher-king would not dominate or “lord it over” others. Government, in Plato’s view, was to operate on behalf of the common good.

The economic class of society was represented by the Auxiliaries (Spirit), ordinary citizens who became warriors when called to military service. They included farmers, artisans, and those who would later be termed the bourgeoisie. (Slaves, as was the case throughout most of history, were regarded as outside the social system of Athens.) Plato hoped that the Auxiliaries would embody the culture and values of society. He did not believe that money should dominate or exert greater influence than was necessary to expand and maintain an economy serving the needs of culture and governance.

The class of the Appetites corresponded to the realm of culture. For Plato, culture was the essence of society, the very reason good government and a healthy economy are necessary. The foundations and core principles of society, as Plato understood them, were religion, education, music, and myth. Religion was in many ways redefined by Platonic philosophy. He did not believe in the mythical gods, referring to them as “useful lies,” though they continued to be worshiped by the Greek population. He also did not believe in the monotheistic god later posited by Jews and Christians, who were to make profound theological use of his philosophical system. Plato did believe in the divine as a sort of master craftsman that is rational, compassionate, and orderly. From there flows the whole system of Platonic philosophy.

We would do well to pay attention to Plato’s concrete ideas; society deserves it. Americans who oppose authoritarianism must remain aware of the force field created by the dynamic of independence and interdependence among the social realms. We must take this to heart.

At the same time, those who support authoritarianism, whether out of the desire for political power or a fixation on the economy, must reckon with the consequences of allowing selfish interests to so completely dominate. They should be wary of what such dominance can bring, for them and those they cherish, and for the nation they love and serve. It is not good.

A built-in commonality of interest is one reason a dysfunctional balance among the realms of society cannot endure. The realms need one another, none can claim dominion over the others. For example, the political governance and the economic realms will always depend on the knowledge, research, and enduring values of education cultivated within the cultural realm. In the end, it is teamwork that wins.

We may take the poignant example of science. In recent generations, the role of science within the economic realm has steadily degraded, its authority subordinated to more direct and pressing economic and political desires. This has been without adequate cooperation with cultural interests, such as justice, beauty, and truth. Consequently, to offer one crucial example, it became possible to refuse the clear scientific warnings about climate change in favor of the short-term priorities of the economic, political, and bureaucratic sectors.

This disregard and refusal to heed science is not an isolated case but part of a growing pattern. For this and other reasons rooted in both economy and culture, science has been pushed aside, subordinated within the very realm where it should serve as a significant partner. In its proper role within the economic realm, science exerts pressure that keeps the operations of the whole dynamic and responsive. Weakening its influence has made the entire structure progressively more fragile, eroding its ability to balance the stresses and to hold the realms together in healthy balance. It is becoming increasingly vulnerable to collapse.

Plato’s wisdom, born of his concern for Athens’ decline after its defeat by Sparta and the end of its Golden Age, must alert us to the danger of failing to reform the political, cultural, and economic defects that gave rise to the need for correction. If we are not wise enough, determined enough, and strong enough, the United States of America will face its own shocking level of historical decline.