Aristocrat and the community

This book consists of two dialogues, "Aristocrat" and "The Community." Both 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 this dialogue 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. But most importantly they come to consider their involvement with and commitment to "the cause," a potentially transpolitical cause. "Aristocrat" attempts to answer several related "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 appealing means to make the city different and therefore worthwhile 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?