The Dialectics of Democracy: Common-Particular and Public-Private

Abstract

It is well known that classical Greek used three words to express what we now call people: láos, démos, ójlos. Ójlos meant a group of people whose only connection was physical proximity and a common rejection of something, or protest against someone; the Romans used the term plebs. Láos is an archaic term, meaning an organized human group with an internal connection, and an internal principle of unity. The Athenians, or the Jews, were láos. Démos is an intermediate kind of word. It indicates a population which is neither ójlos, the masses, nor has an internal principle of articulation, precisely because démos was a peaceful group of individuals.