[astazangasta]

Plato was a young man when Socrates died. Imagine a bitter fascist a generation later attempting to keep alive the cult of a noted collaborator put to death for his collaboration. Of course he will say Socrates did not support the tyranny.

[nabla9]

I don't follow. Plato was big supporter of the idea of philosophy of philosopher tyranny, but he was so shamed of his own philosophy that did not want Socrates to be associated with it?

[astazangasta]

No. Plato wanted to present an idealised world ruled by philosophers like himself. He wanted to deny that this world was equivalent to the highly unpopular government that had been imposed on Athens by their nemesis Sparta. That is, he wished to deny that Critias, despite being educated in the manner Plato favored, was a true representative of that philosophy, since the result was so unpopular. This is a position taken by many ideologues, Marxist, capitalist or otherwise, who repudiate the failures of their system in practice - the system fails because it is not "real" Marxism, etc., which can remain forever perfect in theory. In reality it isn't difficult to see the outcome of Plato's philosophy (I am thinking mostly of The Republic) as playing out in real life exactly as the Thirty Tyrants did - a bunch of rich brats raised to think they were wise philosophers visiting their "wisdom" on a captive populace.