What is Democracy

Although the word democracy, in Greek, means “rule by the people”, there is much disagreement universally over the precise requirements of democracy. The Athenian Ecclesiastic Model 1. Ecclesia composed of all male citizens who met 40 times a year to decide everything. 2. Weaknesses of this model: • Exclusivity, because there were three slaves for every two Athenians (and because women were excluded) • Scale, because direct democracy only works for very small populations. Clisthenes (instituted reforms in Athens between 508 …

…and living in an honorable, rational manner. 2. Social Evolution • Humans should have a sense of community, and community requires a sense of moderation and mutual affection. Humans have no identity or meaning apart from their relationship to the rest of community. • Humans exist at three levels. a. The foyer (“household”) is where basic biological needs are met (if we do not evolve past this level of existence, then we are no better than brute beasts).