QUITE EARLY IN Plato’s Republic there is a passage that sets the tone not just of this great philosophical work, but of most political discussion in the West from the time of Plato to the present. The main speaker, Socrates, is sketching out his vision of an ideal community: it is a kind of rustic, vegetarian utopia. But this simple life will not do for Socrates’ young interlocutors, the youthful, mettlesome Glaucon and Adeimantus. They want red meat and dancing girls.
Regretfully, Socrates concedes that the world without luxury, which would suit him, is just too boring for the young bloods. ...
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