Plato rejected the principles of Athenian democracy since in Platonic thought only a few (the philosophers) are fit to rule.
He writes:
Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many nature who are present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils . . . not, I think, will the human race. (Republic, 473c-d)
For Plato, the philosopher king is "one who loves the sight of truth" (Republic 475c).
According to Plato, a state made up of different kinds of individuals will inevitably decline.
• It will regress from an aristocracy (rule by the best)
• To a timocracy (rule by the honorable)
• To an oligarchy (rule by the few)
• To a democracy (rule by the people)
• To a tyranny (rule by one person, a tyrant).
