Athenian Democracy Essay

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Bartholomew Wolinski January 15th, 2013 Mr. Miller Global Essay Athenian Democracy and Its Contradictions, Ideals and Criticisms The Athenians had many, many ideals as to what their democratic society should be like. The Athenians believed in having a very free life and that man can partake in the politics that happened in some city-states. Athens had a very dissimilar view on politics compared to most city-states. They thought that everyone should be able to have a say in rulings, and that no one man does thoughtless decisions by himself which could lead to a bad civilization. Athens also believed that people should have the opportunities to help out, and fix mistakes that some might have made previously. A major ideal in the Athenian democracy is that everybody is equal politically and socially. The key thing to understanding democracy is that democracy is a system where everyone would be able to participate in the governments affairs. The whole point of democracy is that everyone gets to participate in government, and everyone can vote. Aristotle talks about this a lot in his piece, Politics. Aristotle says in this paragraph that, “The democratic conception of justice is the enjoyment of arithmetical equality, and not the enjoyment of proportionate equality on the basis of desert.” (QUOTE)What Aristotle is basically saying is that everyone is the same and that their voting powers should be the same too. We see in this quote that Aristotle means that everyone is created equal and that no one should have the authority to have more than everyone else, politically or socially. Another man, Thucydides, also talks about the equality for all humans. In his piece, The funeral Oration of Pericles, he says, ‘the law secures equal justice to all alike” (8). Thucydides is telling us that the Athenians need to be fair. If the

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