Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century
The recent general election has exposed the danger inherent in vote-based democracies – that they inevitably entail large disaffected minorities being excluded from executive power. The ancient Greek inventors of democracy vigorously debated this issue, having painful historical experience of it (re...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2015-10-01
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Series: | The Journal of Classics Teaching |
Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631015000124/type/journal_article |
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author | Edith Hall |
author_facet | Edith Hall |
author_sort | Edith Hall |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The recent general election has exposed the danger inherent in vote-based democracies – that they inevitably entail large disaffected minorities being excluded from executive power. The ancient Greek inventors of democracy vigorously debated this issue, having painful historical experience of it (recorded by Thucydides) and theoretical solutions (discussed by Aristotle). Yet our state educational system almost completely deprives our secondary-school children of the opportunity to think about democracy afforded by the dazzling thought-world of the ancient Greeks. This is despite the availability of excellent translations of all their writings – free online – into modern English. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:45:26Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-d218ef52a015479787aa750acea0f13d |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2058-6310 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:45:26Z |
publishDate | 2015-10-01 |
publisher | Cambridge University Press |
record_format | Article |
series | The Journal of Classics Teaching |
spelling | doaj.art-d218ef52a015479787aa750acea0f13d2023-03-09T12:37:19ZengCambridge University PressThe Journal of Classics Teaching2058-63102015-10-01161510.1017/S2058631015000124Citizens’ Classics for the 21st CenturyEdith HallThe recent general election has exposed the danger inherent in vote-based democracies – that they inevitably entail large disaffected minorities being excluded from executive power. The ancient Greek inventors of democracy vigorously debated this issue, having painful historical experience of it (recorded by Thucydides) and theoretical solutions (discussed by Aristotle). Yet our state educational system almost completely deprives our secondary-school children of the opportunity to think about democracy afforded by the dazzling thought-world of the ancient Greeks. This is despite the availability of excellent translations of all their writings – free online – into modern English.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631015000124/type/journal_article |
spellingShingle | Edith Hall Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century The Journal of Classics Teaching |
title | Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century |
title_full | Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century |
title_fullStr | Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century |
title_full_unstemmed | Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century |
title_short | Citizens’ Classics for the 21st Century |
title_sort | citizens classics for the 21st century |
url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631015000124/type/journal_article |
work_keys_str_mv | AT edithhall citizensclassicsforthe21stcentury |