Or consider Józef Beck’s famous speech responding to Hitler’s threats, with the famous lines:
“Peace is a precious and a desirable thing. Our generation, bloodied in wars, certainly deserves peace. But peace, like almost all things of this world, has its price, a high but a measurable one. We in Poland do not know the concept of peace at any price. There is only one thing in the lives of men, nations and countries that is without price. That thing is honor.”
Given that politicians cater rhetorically to the populace and are themselves products of the prevailing culture, we can look at how speeches have changed over time to assess the progression of our societies, and this progression tracks closely the decadence described in Plato’s Republic. Honor, in this case, aligns with the spirited part of the soul and therefore timocratic rule. We have since passed from the timocratic stage to oligarchy in which honor is replaced with love of money. Democracy follows in which the base appetites are put front and center and all desires, no matter how base or deranged, are treated equally. (Tyranny is the last stage, characterized by total depravity and brutality.)
“Peace is a precious and a desirable thing. Our generation, bloodied in wars, certainly deserves peace. But peace, like almost all things of this world, has its price, a high but a measurable one. We in Poland do not know the concept of peace at any price. There is only one thing in the lives of men, nations and countries that is without price. That thing is honor.”
Given that politicians cater rhetorically to the populace and are themselves products of the prevailing culture, we can look at how speeches have changed over time to assess the progression of our societies, and this progression tracks closely the decadence described in Plato’s Republic. Honor, in this case, aligns with the spirited part of the soul and therefore timocratic rule. We have since passed from the timocratic stage to oligarchy in which honor is replaced with love of money. Democracy follows in which the base appetites are put front and center and all desires, no matter how base or deranged, are treated equally. (Tyranny is the last stage, characterized by total depravity and brutality.)