"Aristocrat" and "the Community"

Download or read book "Aristocrat" and "the Community" written by Nicholas J. Pappas and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Aristocrat" and "The Community" are dialogues that take place among friends through the course of a night. "Aristocrat" is concerned with what it means to want to rule, with the comparison of aristocracy to democracy, and with duty. The friends begin by touching upon excellence, aristocracy's traditional claim to rule. They soon come to question whether there are in fact but two true claims to rule - force, or a system of belief. In addition they ponder their commitment to "the cause," a potentially transpolitical cause. "Aristocrat" attempts to answer several "whats" - what is "the cause," what does it involve, and what does it mean to serve. "The Community" attempts to demonstrate a "how" - how to create the new city, a new city determined to set itself apart from the outside world. Discussions of the degree to which quality can be controlled from above, and debates over the degree of control versus freedom that would make the city an ideal place to live, are interwoven with a concern for viability - represented by the Bank, whose interests it seems must always be taken into account. Is the creation of an ideal community an effort that is doomed to be utopian?