Athens was governed by an assembly of all adult male citizens, which met fortnightly to make decisions.
These assembly meetings were swayed by orators, and often acted in irrational and damaging ways as a result [example: a lot of sailors of sunken ships were drowned after a sea battle at Arginusai when a storm came up. Theramenes was the Admiral charged with recovering them. He got home early before the others, and told the Assembly that the other Admirals had deserted the dying sailors, and their relatives demanded execution of the admirals. This was passed by the Assembly and carried out (one the six executed was Pericles, son of the famous, now deceased Pericles), and cunning Theramenes got off scot free.
The majority of the people was democratically inclined. Socrates was in favour of power to a limited number of the better educated conservatives. If the conservatives (read Socrates clones) had been in the majority, the Assembly would still have been swayed by orators but in a different direction - group-think, a mob, thinking differently but still a mob.
We have tried today to limit this in our democracies by using representative democracy - elected members of parliament who meet and are supposedly not prone to on-the-spot mass surges of opinion and direction. It works partially.
Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.Roman law gave every citizen the right to a trial.
Was entitled to attend the assembly and speak and vote on issues raised by them or others. They also served in the army and navy when called out.
not as highly valued (Apex)
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur, a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, was fed a tribute of seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls every nine years. This practice was a punishment imposed on Athens by King Minos of Crete after the death of his son. The tributes were sent into the Labyrinth, where the Minotaur resided. Ultimately, the hero Theseus ended this gruesome tradition by slaying the Minotaur.
Greek, particularly Athenian, Democracy was a participatory democracy. The number of people who were allowed citizenship was comparatively small; so each citizen was expected to attend public meetings such as the Assembly, which was the city council meeting. The juries numbered 500 instead of the twelve of the English jury system. Every property owning male of eligible age, both of whose parents were born in Athens had a civic responsibility to participate. Rome was a republic. Each class, aristocrats, equestrians, and plebeians, elected representatives for selected offices. The aristocrats sat in the senate, which was the deliberative body, made most of the decisions, but some decisions were subject to plebiscite, the approval of the lower classes, similar to a California referendum, today.
The quote implies that even if every citizen possessed the wisdom and rationality of Socrates, the collective decision-making process in a large group like the Athenian assembly would still be chaotic and disorderly, lacking in the thoughtfulness and logic of an individual like Socrates. It suggests that group dynamics and emotions can easily override reason and intelligence in a crowd setting.
The wisdom of individuals does not necessarily translate into the wisdom of the group composed of those individuals. That is because groups are still prone to acting on the basis of what we might describe as the lowest common denominator; what they have in common may not be wisdom.
That even if every Athenian was a philosophical genius then they would still ultimately just be a lot of people shouting and trying to take what ever they can. It could also be interpreted as an attack on the self-perceived all conquering brilliance of their democratic system.
demorcratic vote
It gave precedence to the idea that every citizen had the right to self determination.
The law-making body of Athens was called the Ekklesia, or the Assembly. The Assembly was composed of any Athenian citizen who cared to show up - that is, any Athens-born male over the age of 18. Women and slaves were not allowed to participate. All classes of society, however, from wealthy landowners to the thetes, or manual laborers, were allowed to participate. Before Pericles' reforms, however, only those wealthy enough to have significant amounts of free time on their hands could show up regularly to meetings. The leader of each meeting of the Assembly were chosen by lottery, with every male citizen over 18 having an equal chance of being drawn. Some of the duties of the Assembly were to vote on laws and decide when to go to war.
Athens was governed by an assembly of all adult male citizens, which met fortnightly to make decisions.These assembly meetings were swayed by orators, and often acted in irrational and damaging ways as a result [example: a lot of sailors of sunken ships were drowned after a sea battle at Arginusai when a storm came up. Theramenes was the Admiral charged with recovering them. He got home early before the others, and told the Assembly that the other Admirals had deserted the dying sailors, and their relatives demanded execution of the admirals. This was passed by the Assembly and carried out (one the six executed was Pericles, son of the famous, now deceased Pericles), and cunning Theramenes got off scot free.The majority of the people was democratically inclined. Socrates was in favour of power to a limited number of the better educated conservatives. If the conservatives (read Socrates clones) had been in the majority, the Assembly would still have been swayed by orators but in a different direction - group-think, a mob, thinking differently but still a mob.We have tried today to limit this in our democracies by using representative democracy - elected members of parliament who meet and are supposedly not prone to on-the-spot mass surges of opinion and direction. It works partially.
Athens had a unique government, a direct democracy. This meant that every Athenian citizen voted on laws and legislation. Sparta was ruled by two kings and a 28 member council of elders.
A direct democracy with enforced participation. ----------------------- Every Athenian male resident was a participant. However, women, slaves, children and foreigners were not included.
The Spartan government operated very differently than the Athenian government. Unlike Athens's democracy, in which every citizen had a vote, Sparta had an oligarchic government (a government ruled by a few people). Also the assembly could only vote on yes-or-no laws, but could not debate issues.
the assembly was open to every male citizen over the age of 30. met to talk about important matter such as rules about citizenship or war and to oppoint generals
The First Amendment gives every US citizen the right to assembly and to have his voice heard.