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A certain trend in political philosophy has associated Plato with a totalitarian tradition, which is disputed in this paper. The author argues that Plato could be included in the political philosophy of a democratic type, referring to the interpretation of the theory of ideas, presented in the text. This interpretation involves a certain understanding of the idea of the Good and the two principal methods of defining it, as well as 'Plato's dilemma' (the Good above the Demiurge versus the Demiurge above the Good), and a peculiar Platonic way to resolve this dilemma. Additionally, the author confronts Plato's dilemma with the axiological duality of the cultural message conveyed by the Old Testament. The author develops a hypothesis that especially (albeit not exclusively) as the author of The Republic, Plato laid the foundations for the political philosophy in general, but also, despite the disapproval of the Athenian democracy he manifested, for the philosophy of democracy, perceived as a kind of order, based on defining the Good by means of dialogue and the prevalence of so-defined Good over any kind of 'Demiurge', including a political Demiurge.

Szymon Ossowski, W kierunku urynkowienia. Zagrożenia dla liberalnej demokracji w Polsce, Wydawnictwo Naukowe WNPiD UAM, Poznań 2011, ss. 201.

We, the citizens of Europe, having grievously suffered from wars, despotic regimes, alliances of throne and altar, religious repressions, and genocidal totalitarian dictatorships, knowing the high price of the democratic political orders and being determined to defend them from authoritarian movements and organizations, declaring our connection to the democratic European tradition and democratic values, such as the natural right of every human being to participate in public debate and to codefine the public good, to constitute, control and recall the political representatives of every level and to define their competence, and other democratic values contained in the great constitutions, such as Magna Carta, The Declaration of The Rights of Man and Citizen, T he General Declaration of Human Rights, The European Convention of The Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom, The European Social Cart.