THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY2 The Lives and Opinions

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THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
than the few; they are like the greater quantity
of water which is less
easily spoiled than a little. The individual is liable to be overcome b^i
anger, or by some other passion, and then his judgment is necessarily
perverted; but it is hardly to be supposed that a great number of persons
would all get into a passion and go wrong at the same moment" 91
Yet democracy is on the whole inferior to aristocracy. 92 For it is based
on a false assumption of equality; it "arises out of the notion that those
who are equal in one respect (e. g., in respect of the law) are equal in
all respects; because men are equally free they claim to be absolutely
equal." The upshot is that ability is sacrified to number, while numbers
are manipulated by trickery. Because the people are so easily misled, and
so fickle in their views, the ballot should be limited to the intelligent
What we need is a combination of aristocracy and democracy.
Constitutional government offers this happy union. It is not the best
conceivable government that would be an aristocracy of education but
it is the best possible state. "We must ask what is the best constitution for
most states, and the best life for most men; neither assuming a standard
of excellence which will be above ordinary persons, nor an education ex-
ceptionally favored by nature or circumstance, nor yet an ideal state
which will be only an aspiration; but having in mind such a life as the
majority will be able to share, and a form of government to which states
in general can attain." "It is necessary to begin by assuming a principle
of general application, namely, that that part of the state which desires
the continuance of the government must be stronger than that which
93
does not" ; and strength consists neither in number alone, nor in property
alone, nor in military or political ability alone, but in a combination
of these, so that regard has to be taken of "freedom, wealth, culture and
noble birth, as well as of mere numerical superiority." Now where shall
we find such an economic majority to support our constitutional government?
Perhaps best in the middle class: here again we have the golden
mean, just as constitutional government itself would be a mean between
democracy and aristocracy. Our state will be sufficiently democratic if
the road to every office is open to all; and sufficiently aristocratic if the
offices themselves are closed except to those who have traveled the road
and arrived fully prepared. From whatever angle we approach our eternal
political problem we monotonously reach the same conclusion: that the
community should determine the ends to be pursued, but that only experts
should select and apply the means; that choice should be democratically
spread, but that office should be rigidly reserved for the
equipped and winnowed best
^Politics, iii, 15. Tarde, Le Bon and other social psychologists assert precisely the
Contrary; and though they exaggerate the vices of the crowd, they might find better
support than Aristotle in the behavior of the Athenian Assembly 430-330 B. c.
d. f ii, p, ^Ibid., iv, 1 1, 10.