Philosophy Now Forum

If a politician could understand what legitimacy is, they'd be a philosopher, not a politician.

If a good philosopher could cope with Real Politik, then they could make a good leader.

e.g. Marcus Aurelius

Advocate wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:20 pm If a politician could understand what legitimacy is, they'd be a philosopher, not a politician.

nope.

what is needed is an afffirmatio of a governmental system as legitimate - ad so politicians reporesent us no the privalaged.

sadly the system is corrupt, butjust saying "all politicians are shit due to being politicians" is just nialism - and offers what? anarchy - no rule of law no stable and just society.

so dissagree with your premise.

I'm with gaffo here. The problem with our democratic institutions is not a deficit of ethics or acumen in our politicians.

And Advocate has set up a false dichotomy between politicians and philosophers. There is no reason why one can't be both, and indeed a number of notable politicians have studied PPE and can therefore lay a legitimate claim to be philosophers.

And of course, there is no logical reason for legitimacy generally to depend on any kind of knowledge of it, either theoretical or practical.