• ssjmarx [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Plato's Republic maybe. He wasn't a big fan of Athens' democracy and thought it would be better if they had a dictator raised from birth for the job.

    Sparta also stands out, because the slave class (Helots) were almost all owned by the kings, but Spartan citizens had a really strong welfare state for themselves built on the back of all that slave labor.

    • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Nah, the guy I'm thinking of had this idea for a utopian society and he had a lot of ideas that were pretty cool and ahead of his time, but then he was just like, foreigners will volunteer to be slaves just so they can be a part of this society, and they'll do all the work. Existential Comics did a comic about him.

      Edit: My mistake, it wasn't a Greek philosopher, it was Thomas More

      • Ziege_Bock [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        It does line up with a sentiment in Aristophanes' Assemblywomen

        Praxagora: I want all to have a share of everything and all property to be in common; there will no longer be either rich or poor; I shall begin by making land, money, everything that is private property, common to all.

        Blepyrus: But who will till the soil?

        Praxagora: The slaves.

        • Zuzak [fae/faer, she/her]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Tbh I've had the same thought. Meme level understandings of philosophers/philosophy can do more harm than good. Still ok sometimes tho.

    • Sen_Jen [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Sparta is the social democratic dream, except the slaves are in other countries so you don't have to think about them