Democracy Needs Aristocratic Education

The article argues that genuine independence of mind is formed by submitting to authoritative teachers and texts through apprenticeship, where tacit knowledge is absorbed before it can be justified. Paradoxically, a democratic society requires this aristocratic ethos in education to avoid devolving into mob rule. Trust and imitation—anchored in embodied practices—are presented as the core vehicles of cultural and scientific transmission. — This challenges egalitarian, self‑directed learning ideals by reframing deference to authority as the precondition for the critical thinking democracies depend on.