In his dialogue Protagoras, Plato uses a teaching story to explain how humans, when they degenerated to the point of utter barbarism, were saved by a small, distinguished group of sages connected with the name of Hermes, who taught humankind the higher ordering principles of group solidarity and decision-making, delivering them from annihilation.
The higher ordering principles of group solidarity and group dialectic, therefore, are elements of innate intelligence, allowing all humans to participate in group decision-making. But even though these elements are innate, they can be overwhelmed by ignorance and personal vice, until they become non-functionalforgotten and atrophied. Humans can degenerate to the bestial state of dog-eat-dog, disdaining reverence for unity, order, and justice. Therefore, when the majority of humankind loses the sense of civic and social virtue, to the point of civilization's being threatened, it becomes necessary for enlightening groupswho know the Forms of Justice and Civility–to teach humans the arcane wisdom of group dialectic which will deliver them from extinction.