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Luat Tran Van's Articles in College & University

  • Are Democracies Decaying?
    Plato and Macchiavelli already pondered about what would eventually happen with any democracy, thanks to their leaders. They both concluded that it is highly likely that they will end transformed into some form of tyranny.
  • On Liberty And Equality
    This essay deals with the meaning of liberty and equality as seen by Plato, Locke, Rousseau and Marx, but before entering into the formal aspects of their views it is necessary to comment about other aspects that are incumbent to the matter: any analysis regarding what different authors have to say about any concept defined by apparently precise terms is usually infected by a certain temptation to make a literal comparison between their ideas.
  • On Plato’s Notion Of Equality
    Works such as Plato's Republic are ample, and discussions about them can take very different paths; on the matter of egalitarianism, two apparently different positions deserve mention: in Book VII, Plato comments about the democratic man. 'The man who believes in legal equality' is described as a complex person, full of characters, a prisoner of his appetites.
  • On Plato's Notion Of Liberty
    In the description of his ideal city or state, the Kallipolis, Plato specifies his ideas about freedom of speech, belief and choice of vocation; he is the ultimate aristocrat and therefore, anything that can possibly conspire against his model is against the objective good.
  • On Plato's Notion Of Authority
    Plato says that his Kallipolis is just a model, and thus, protects his ideas from easy criticism, so, before attempting to analyse Plato's work, it is necessary to say something about this device used in the 'Republic' so as not to receive a retort that waves this justification: the question about an eventual implementation of his plan is cleverly avoided and stated as misguided by stating that the creation of the Kallipolis was for the sake of a model.

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