Event Description
Melissa Lane: Plato on Rule and Office: constitutionalism for the good of the ruled
In Juvenal’s sixth satire, the Roman poet famously asked, “Who will guard the guardians?” The phrase has become a proverbial way to think about the demands of good government: the need to identify, and safeguard, guardians who care for the good of those over whom they rule. The Juvenal conundrum (as I have called it)[1] speaks to democrats (small “d”) raised on Harry S. Truman’s insistence that “the buck stops here,” who can feel the intuitive force both of the need for someone who is responsible for caring about getting the ultimate decisions right, and of the danger posed by that person’s (or groups’) potentially getting it wrong—whether out of ignorance, corruption, or sheer negligence. Wherever the buck is supposed to stop, one may ask what happens if that safeguard, or stopgap, is not up to the task (one might say, buckles at the crucial moment). In acknowledging that democratic polities need guardians, and need to answer the question of how those guardians will be guarded, we can start to see Plato’s reference to guardians in the Republic—the infamous philosopher-kings and -queens who can otherwise easily raise democratic hackles—in a new light. I will argue that Plato’s appeal to guardians, and especially the highest philosopher-rulers whom we might call his super-guardians, arose out of his reflections on vulnerabilities in the constitutional polities of his day, including the ancient Athenian democracy, and so has potential relevance to how good government might be achieved in democratic polities today: dedicated to the good of the ruled.
N.B. - You can view a recording of this, and other past events on Paideia's Youtube Channel.
Event Info
Jul 21, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM EDT
Online
Guest Speaker
