[book]

To rethink the roots of democracy as we think we know it.

One of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time.

Modern democracy attempts to combine two conflicting things, freedom and equality. If one aims for freedom, inequalities arise. If one aims for equality, freedom is compromised.

(…)

It is widely thought that in liberal democracy humankind has arrived at its ultimate form, and there’s nothing left for us but trying to make moderate progress within its limitations. Needless to say, however, liberal democracy is nothing of the sort. There remain ways to transcend it (…) Taking Athenian democracy as a model will never allow us to solve the problems of modern democracy. It is more important rather to recognize in Athens the prototype of these problems.

—

ISONOMIA and the Origins of Philosophy

by Kojin KARATANI, Duke University Press 2012.