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 It seems however, that the intrinsic sense of justice that members of the kallipolis naturally have is useful only in terms of "following the laws," not for anything more abstract or permanent, as Socrates argues in Book 1 of The Republic.
Two of Socrates' students attempted coups and failed. According to I.F. Stone, in his book Gadfly's Guilt: The Trial of Socrates, "Bloody political coups led by two of his best-known students, Alcibiades and Critias, overthrew democratic government in Athens in 411 and 404 B.C. the threat of a third coup in 401, triggered Socrates' trial, which took place two years later"(Stone, I.F. Qtd. in Elson, John. Books: Gadfly's Guilt: The Trial of Socrates. Time, 01-25-98, p.66). Stone, however, also argues that Socrates was "in reality a coldhearted, elitist, pro-Spartan snob who was openly contemptuous of Athens' Democracy and favored totalitarian rule by a philosopher-king"(Stone, I. F. Qtd. in Elson, John). That is not the intent of the paper. Plato's goal could not have been a Philosophical Monarchy, because the teachings of Socrates require the intellectual participation of many, or a Democracy. Plato's goal is a political philosophical change in the way the future rulers of the government think, not to over throw the government by force.
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