Initial thoughts: this is a distinctly more conservative work than The Republic, but for good reason. Allan Bloom felt that the City in Speech in The Republic was just meant as a thought exercise, whereas Karl Popper insisted that it was a blueprint for actual states.
Over time, I've come to decide that Popper is wrong and Bloom is more-or-less right. The blueprint simply requires too much for permanent implementation, and Plato alludes to that in The Republic. Degeneration is inevitable, and Plato must have learned a lesson from the collapse of Sparta once riches infiltrated the city-state. There has to be some irony that the state that glorifies permanence requires constant maintenance and vigilance so that it doesn't fall apart.
One of the big lessons that were learned, I think, in the transition from The Republic to Laws was that individuals must be given the opportunity to deny both the paths of pleasure and pain, rather than the state making those decisions for them. This reflects the reality that the state and its citizens will inevitably come into contact with outsiders eventually. It is only with the development of good character through practice, and not through draconian laws, that a society can learn to bear with the intrusion.
Over time, I've come to decide that Popper is wrong and Bloom is more-or-less right. The blueprint simply requires too much for permanent implementation, and Plato alludes to that in The Republic. Degeneration is inevitable, and Plato must have learned a lesson from the collapse of Sparta once riches infiltrated the city-state. There has to be some irony that the state that glorifies permanence requires constant maintenance and vigilance so that it doesn't fall apart.
One of the big lessons that were learned, I think, in the transition from The Republic to Laws was that individuals must be given the opportunity to deny both the paths of pleasure and pain, rather than the state making those decisions for them. This reflects the reality that the state and its citizens will inevitably come into contact with outsiders eventually. It is only with the development of good character through practice, and not through draconian laws, that a society can learn to bear with the intrusion.