How Democracy Turns Men Into Beasts

About this episode

The episode explores Giambattista Vico's theory of civilization stages and its implications for modern democracy.

Was Giambattista Vico a misunderstood prophet? He broke civilizations into 3 stages: the Age of the the Age of Gods (piety/theocracy), the Age of Heroes (honor/aristocracy), and the Age of Men (rationality/democracy). Which of these are we in? And how does it affect us? Get full access to ThinkingWest at thinkingwest.substack.com/subscribe

Topics covered

• democracy
• civilization stages
• philosophy
• Giambattista Vico
• theocracy
• aristocracy
• rationality

Keywords

• democracy
• Giambattista Vico
• civilization
• theocracy
• aristocracy
• rationality
• philosophy