Aristophanes

“Aristophanes is right in The Clouds: democracy automatically produces two classes of 

people--knaves and fools—and if it weren’t for the support it gets from knaves and fools, there 

would be no such thing as democracy.” To what degree, if any, is this true? In responding to 

this topic, be sure that you conceive of “democracy” in a way that is useful in considering 

Aristophanes’ play. Don’t just turn to dictionary definitions; they are merely places to start in 

thinking about the concepts you’re using. And notice: this topic is about the ideas presented in 

the play, having to do with a general concept of “democracy”; it is not about specific political 

issues in our modern “democratic” world. Some brief examples of them may be all right as 

illustrations, but don’t get carried away with discussing them.