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Glad you liked it, although I thought the point I. F. Stone missed was that democracy is a terrible idea (and a dangerous intellectual fad). Progress happens wh
by byrneseyeview 19y ago
Glad you liked it, although I thought the point I. F. Stone missed was that democracy is a terrible idea (and a dangerous intellectual fad). Progress happens when new ideas contradict established ideas -- it is, in other words, intrinsically undemocratic (Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein all spent time as constituencies of one).
- gibsonf1 19y agoI would definitely take the Athenian Democracy over the brutal dictatorship. I think Aristotle did a great job of pointing out the problems with a pure democracy, and John Adams did a great job of helping invent the best solution to those problems - a constitutional republic. But as far as talking about scientific progress in political terms, I guess I don't follow your reasoning there. Apparently, one of the virtues of the Athenian Democracy was free speech, one of the key ingredients enabling great thinkers to thrive.