Athenian Democracy = Openness (#188, Topic H)

The course on Greek philosophy I am taking, which will have its last class coming Tuesday, August 1, focuses on the trial of Socrates (469-399 BCE), a leading philosopher in Athens, more than a century behind Confucius (551-479 BCE). While the charges brought against Socrates -- for teaching to the young, thereby "corrupting" them -- are laughable (indeed, during the class, I could not refrain from shaking my head), I did not sign on to the course to learn the trial's details (on which I had read at least two books when I was translating Confucius's Analects). Rather, I was trying to gain some insight on why such an incident could have taken place in ancient Greece. After I posted an entry on What is Democracy? two weeks ago(#173, 7/13/06), I felt that perhaps I could link this course to my query on democracy: Greece is said to be the birthplace of democracy, how could Athens tolerate such an indignity? As to Socrates's trial, the jury voted 280-220 for prosecution; among life-ending options, Socrates chose poison. Most writers seem to blame the system for Socrates's death -- the jury pool consisted of unemployed citizens who jumped at the opportunity to earn a few coins, the jury members were uneducated, etc. I beg to differ; I think these views confused the end result with the process -- they blamed the process when the result was not to their liking. What I learned from Socrates's trial are two attractive attributes of Athenian democracy: (1) equality -- nothing could be fairer than choosing by lot, (2) openness -- nothing could escape the public's notice when everything was conducted in the open air (to let more than one form of sunshine in) and concluded in front of all present. Democracy was said to be "tyranny by the majority". But, if a decision is reached by peers (that is, without prejudice) openly (that is, without collusion), it must necessarily be accepted, at least acquiesced, by everyone, at least for the time being -- while one who is displeased works to institute remedial action. But, of course, without prejudice and without collusion are big conditions, and remedial action takes time. No wonder, a book for juveniles I borrowed from the local library (and quoted in #173) said that: [M]ajor Greek philosophers agreed that democracy was the worst form of government." (Bill Stites, Democracy: A Primary Source, 2005, p. 6)