Plato took a dim view of democracy as a process for deciding what to do. Plato thought rulers should be speciallytrained philosophers chosen because they were incorruptible and had a deeper knowledge of reality than other people… an idea that only a philosopher could have come up with.

Narrated by Aidan Turner. Scripted by Nigel Warburton.

From the BBC Radio 4 series about life's big questions A History of Ideas.

This project is from the BBC in partnership with The Open University, the animations were created by Cognitive.