Once Upon a Time in Athens, 380 B.C.
Primordial social utopias long before “utopia” was dubbed by Thomas More.
Thomas More might have coined the word “utopia” but since the first settlements arose, long before the world worshiped one god, the spirit of “utopianism” was around. For centuries it was myths that guided and sparked the imaginative minds of the gullible folks. Whether it be the Aztecs, Mesopotamian, Vikings, Polynesians or Greek, they all tried to make sense of the world through stories about blissful places above, horrible places below, titans rising from the earth, immortal gods descending from the sky, divine creatures and supernatural heroes.
Due to preserved manuscripts, the Ancient Greek myths are one of the earliest, most popular and undoubtedly most influential myths of all. In fact, many stories and figures made it to present-day beliefs, superstition, language and expression. Think of the seven sins, tantalizing, narcissism, echo, Adonis, hyacinth and Athena just to name a few of the thousands words which inherit there meaning straight from those days. And although talking about myths might seem a bit ‘off-topic’, the stories (like the biblical stories) talk about how humanity started off as a ‘paradise-like’ (Utopian) place which eventually got ruined by the pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, and wrath (the seven sins) of the human race.
In the citadel named after goddess Athena (daughter of Zeus, the god of gods himself) it happened to be that philosophy became a common practice of nobleman, perhaps in an attempt to restore or deal with former glory as told by the myths. Or perhaps to decipher, envision and conceptualize the necessary ingredients for a future ‘perfect society’ (utopia) in an evolved world. A well-known, and one of the earliest and most influential documents on how to create an ideal society was Plato’s work “The Republic” written in 380 B.C.. In this work Plato recorded dialogues between Socrates and other like-minded Athenians and foreigners. The dialogues captured in 10 books are centered about just and unjust man, existing and alternative regimes and the role of philosophy and art in society.
Strikingly is the accuracy and awareness – almost 2.500!! years ago – of the eventuality and flaws of various governmental systems or ‘unjust constitutions’ as Plato referred to it in the 8th book of “The Republic”. He describes how a society passes through various governmental systems to eventually end up in a tyranny which is the most unfavorable regimes of all, I will quickly run through it to summarize it for you:
The starting point and ‘most just regime’ was an alternate aristocracy whereby a society is ruled by wisdom and love. Ideally such regime would be led by a ‘philosopher-king’ – a king familiar with philosophy and genuinely wanting the best for the people as opposed to be hunger for war and power. However, when the social structure in an aristocracy shows their first cracks – for example due to dispute among members of the since-ever-grown elite and royal family – soon civil wars will arise and it will be replaced by a timocracy.
In a timocracy, it is not just a small privileged (mostly noblemen) ruling, but those owning a certain amount of property are allowed to participate in the decision making of a state. One might say a in a way a class system is introduced. But soon power-battles in a timocracy turn into an oligarchy whereby the wealthiest s and most powerful survive and continue to rule. And while positions and power is passed on from one generation to the other within the families the societal gap between the rich and poor widens and parallel to it the dissatisfaction of the underclass majority.
This discontent of the majority of the people results in a revolt and will be the start of a democracy. An ideal democracy represents freedom and equal power for all. But the gullible government believing in the good and just of all leaves space for organized crime and those abusing this good-faith-based governing state. And while the practices of the unjust men, the meager minority excels it paves the way for the demagogue: “a leader who gains popularity in a democracy by exploiting prejudice and ignorance to arouse the common people….”. And so the tyranny is born.
In the tyranny the ruler and government removes all elements and people in the state who pose a threat, while sustaining and assigning all those following their regime. In other words, getting the least desirable people in leading positions. Conversely the tyrannic ruler provokes warfare to consolidate his position as leader. Plato continues that tyranny is the most unjust regime of all with the least freedom and happiness.
Reading about tyranny, did it also happen to you that certain leaders from the previous and current century instantly popped-up in your mind? But what shocked me most is how little in the evolution of governmental systems has changed in more than 2000 years?! We are apparently unable to break the above chain as if it is a natural cycle we simply have to go through again and again. It makes me wonder, are we bound to progress to unity only in first (as opposed to six) gear, stagnated by damaging and disgraceful era’s and leaders?
An ideal and sustainable governmental system has yet to be invented which leaves us with Churchill’s famous quote “that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” . So then, democracy it is, or not? Even today many people and communities try to escape regimes, one of those communities still around is in Christianity.