Talk:benevolent tyrant

About requests for deletion
I edited because I discovered that "benevolent" is an attribute of people. P4enski (talk) 20:28, 5 November 2022 (UTC)

RFD discussion: October 2022–January 2023
SoP. Equinox ◑ 21:41, 19 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Delete. Clearly SoP. - excarnateSojourner (talk | contrib) 23:18, 20 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Tyrants are, by definition, unbenevolent. It looks like the real problem here is that the definition needs to be rewritten. —(((Romanophile))) ♞ (contributions) 19:28, 26 October 2022 (UTC)


 * It's hardly the only such collocation, cf. "just tyrant", "loving tyrant" , "kind tyrant" , all of which just amount to "tyrant who is X". These all have a paradoxical taste, but our own definition at tyrant already involves ruling "unjustly, cruelly, or harshly", and it's certainly possible to be "harsh but fair" or cruel in the pursuit of justice. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 19:44, 26 October 2022 (UTC)


 * It's possible that this was created because of the existing, by the way. Go figure. Equinox ◑ 01:13, 21 October 2022 (UTC)


 * This is an interesting one to me. I would say that both benevolent tyrant and benevolent dictator are SoP. Also, they don't appear in Collins, Lexico, or other dictionaries. Wikipedia does have, which kind of implies that this is not SoP. I am pro-delete, but not 100% sure. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 23:02, 26 October 2022 (UTC)


 * IMO the fact that it's used interchangeably with a bunch of near-synonyms for "dictator" (the WP page itself switches to "benevolent autocrat" in the second paragraph) strongly suggests that it's just SOP. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 00:35, 27 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Delete as above. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 19:45, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete as SoP. — Sgconlaw (talk) 11:46, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Delete, SOP. - -sche (discuss) 03:23, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
 * What about, , ? PUC – 20:41, 5 November 2022 (UTC)
 * The terms "enlightened absolutism" and "enlightened despot(ism)" are historical terms of art for a specific phenomenon in (primarily) the 18th century, and the use of "enlightened" to mean specifically "influenced by the Enlightenment" is rare enough that it's not listed at our entry for, so I would consider them to be a different kettle of fish to "benevolent tyrant". I've not come across "enlightened tyrant" in historiography, however, and the definition there suggests it's SOP. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 20:16, 28 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Keep, erring on the side of. It is defined as SOP, though, and fails to indicate which sense of "tyrant" is meant. For one thing, I wondered how and why the phrase is used at all. Is this the rhetorical device of oxymoron or does someone think the word "tyrant" does not invoke characteristics contradictory to "benevolent"? From, it will be possible to collect some interesting quotations. The entry is worthless as is, but can become quite useful. Not all uses need to be oxymoronic given the polysemy at tyrant; some may refer to Ancient Greek tyrants, who are usurpers. Furthermore, if there is a systematic oxymoronic use of the phrase, then it is a lexicalized oxymorony, meaning non-literal speech, which could contribute to being inclusion-worthy. Not terribly strong, but still worth my keep. --Dan Polansky (talk)
 * Delete. Ultimateria (talk) 19:46, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
 * RFD-deleted. J3133 (talk) 10:12, 6 January 2023 (UTC)