Socrates and Henry Thoreau were great philosophers for their time. They were both opposed to a democratic government and share similar and dissimilar opinions on the subject. Unnecessary. As Thoreau put it: “When the power is once in the hands of the people… to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right… but because they are physically the strongest.” These statements by Socrates support Thoreau’s: “Those with the highest reputation are the most deficient” and “it is likely that neither of us knows anything worthwhile, but he thinks he knows something when he does not.” Essentially, Socrates is saying that in a democracy, an opinion is garnered from a collective of people. These people may not necessarily have an expertise
