User talk:Melfra2

Utopia

Hello

Thank you for your assistance concerning the Utopia article, but the term "oligarchs" is wrongly applied in that context. In fact, Plato loathed the oligarchy in a very sound manner throughout his Republic, so it would be quite stupid of him to propose an oligarchical society in the same work. I may send you the paragraphs where he criticizes the oligarchical cultures. What he proposes is an aristocracy (government of the virtue), which is another kind of community, or a kingdom (that's why he is known for the idea of the philosopher king, not the idea of philosopher oligarch).

My alteration on the article was not vandalism, your assumption was a little snobbish. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Melfra2 (talk • contribs) 21:43, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Hi Melfra2,

Thanks for your response. I think you're talking about this edit? [1] The problem we have, as I understand it, is that Oligarchy, as it is currently defined, as "rule by the few" is correct for the Philosopher Kings...but that's not how Plato defined Oligarchy (see Plato's five regimes); he defined it as "rule by the wealthy few", or what we now know as Plutocracy. So that needs explaining in the article, I will try to get round to it.

I don't believe I ever called your edit vandalism, and I appreciate your contribution, so please remember to remain Civil. PhilMacD (talk) 10:37, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Hello, PhilMacD

Thank you for the conversation. I had received a message stating that my edit was vandalism, so sorry for my mildly harsh reaction. You're right, I think the issue of oligarchy has to do with a conflict between platonic (and perhaps Socratic?) conceptualization of this kind of goverment and our modern understanding, something related to what linguistics would call a semantic shift. Regards!