本文重新檢視雅典民主在政治思想史中的地位。自十九世紀中期以來，雅典的衰敗一直是相關政治思想研究的一項重要理論預設，但是這項預設其實並未能真正反映出當時民主政治發展的全貌。本文首先歸納出雅典衰敗的兩種傳統版本，分別是柏拉圖式與修西德底斯式的版本，這兩種版本類似但不盡相同。本文接著以兩個重要歷史事件，也就是民主雅典在柏羅奔尼撒戰爭與內戰後進行的法律改革與政治和解，說明傳統看法所造成的偏差印象。最後，本文主張，要瞭解雅典民主在政治思想史中的地位，我們不僅要瞭解這個城市在柏羅奔尼撒戰爭時所犯下的一連串錯誤，也要重視它在戰敗後的重新反省與改革。

The author of this paper advocates a reevaluation of fifth-century and fourth-century Athenian political thought, The theory of the decline of Athens, one of the fundamental premises in the study of Greek political thought since the mid-nineteenth century, fails to account for real democratic progress during this period. After presenting the Thucydidean and Platonic versions, two similar but different stories of Athenian decline, the author illustrates their partisan nature with two historical events, the law reforms and the reconciliation after the Peloponnesian War and the civil war. To grasp Athenian political thought, we must go beyond our long romance with the fifth century to acknowledge a broader range of ideas and practices.