The Concept of Tyranny in Literature Essay -- Tyranny Plato John Locke

The Concept of Tyranny in Literature All social contract theorists and classical thinkers understand tyranny to be someone (or government) with unrestrained power that is unjust or unfair to the body, it governs. They each share some views about the effects of tyranny but they have different views on the preventions and the circumstances that give rise to tyranny. In the end, Locke has the most effective ideas as opposed to Plato and Hobbes. Although, they are all equally great minds, based on the democracy that Americans hold true, Locke’s analysis can be the only logical means of proposed prevention. The first author, who takes particular concern with the concept of tyranny, is Plato in his work the The Republic. He perceives tyranny as a â€Å"dictatorship and the dictatorial man† (Porter 84) that â€Å"evolve[s] from democracy† (Porter 84). Circumstances that appear to give rise to tyranny, according to Plato, would be the â€Å"pure wine of liberty† (Porter 84) that seeps into the houses’ of man and breeds anarchy, such as in democracy. The people become slaves to the excessive servitude of keeping liberty with no restraints and rulers are unable to act without restricting someone’s liberty. These rulers are incapable of properly ruling because they cannot trample on the liberty of their subjects, or they will become considered â€Å"foul oligarchs† (Porter 84) and this further generates anarchy through the lack of rules and punishments the rulers can place on the city. It is the people who elevate â€Å"one man as their champio n above all others† (Porter 86) and at first it is a good society because he does not claim to be a ruler but â€Å"freed people from debt and redistributed the land to the people† (Porter 86-87). This create... ...ll effective today, with laws to keep power from consummating in one area, on the Locke theories. It is much more realistic because Plato’s view is a society that is not acceptable by the people, especially not allowing the guardians to keep their own children, to eliminate the idea of inheriting rights, and our basic principals of society have transformed since his time from hierarchy, harmony, and mutual obligation to equality, competition, and self-interest. Hobbes is also not appropriate because his cynical attitude towards men is not appealing to society and the sovereign aspect is not suitable in a democratic nation. Locke proves to be the most effective in today’s government and nations across the world because we have our separation of powers to ensure that the accumulation of power in the government never occurs, and our voting system to ensure equality.