Classical Athens has left to political theorists a dual legacy: a crucial historical case of democratic practice, and a rich tradition of political reflection. A growing number of scholars have placed the relationship between these two legacies at the center of their research. I argue that these scholars collectively offer us a model of a broad, engaged, Athenian public sphere. Yet I also caution that we should avoid overly harmonizing pictures of what that public sphere was like. I focus in particular on two prominent claims in the literature: that Socratic philosophy can be read as an expansion of Athenian accountability practices, and that ancient dramatists, philosophers, and historians were alike engaged in a project to educate citizen judgment. I argue that both claims threaten to obscure arguments over the appropriate role of the judgment of the demos in democratic politics.

中文翻译：

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民主理论与雅典公共领域

古典雅典给政治理论家留下了双重遗产：民主实践的重要历史案例和丰富的政治反思传统。越来越多的学者将这两个遗产之间的关系置于他们研究的中心。我认为这些学者共同为我们提供了一个广泛的、参与的、雅典公共领域的模型。然而，我也警告说，我们应该避免过度协调公共领域的形象。我特别关注文献中的两个突出主张：苏格拉底哲学可以被理解为雅典问责制实践的扩展，以及古代戏剧家、哲学家和历史学家都参与了一项教育公民判断的项目。