The greatest philosophers

Plato is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of all time because his thinking still influences contemporary thoughts. Unlike other authors who vanished in history as a result of the introduction of more progressive scholars, modern authors have built upon the ideas of Plato to come up with their own philosophies. Ideas of Plato can be observed influencing the major religions of the world, right from Christianity to Islam (Huard 147). Marxism, which was a philosophy that was introduced by Karl Marx, borrowed heavily from the ideas of Plato.

Plato was a unique author because of his versatility. He did not have a specific field like art, religion, or science in which he would be described as a giant. He was a giant of all disciplines. In as much as his ideas were applicable in the field of religion and philosophy (Huard 147), this author was known to use mathematics and science to explain his theories. To an extreme end, a form of love known as platonic love bears his name, to show the unlimited influence this philosopher had on humanity. Platonic love was exposed as being a unique kind of relationship that withstood all challenges before the lovers involve themselves in sexual contact as a form of reward for conquering all their diversities. Plato’s philosophies are still studied in Universities around the world, and most leaders use his ideals to govern their countries. Some of his ideas on leadership focused on the ideal society or republic.

To create an ideal society, Plato was for instance against the formation of political systems, but was more comfortable with a situation in which philosophic ideologies are used as guidelines for governance. These ideals came as a consequence of his observation of the problems that the society was facing because of rulers who were not effective. He felt that non -performing leaders should be replaced with ruler philosophers or the philosopher king (Okpala 2), who according to him would govern the society based on predetermined principles, and further lead the society into an ethical existence. This led him to greatly detest the principles of democracy, which put him in deep collision with numerous leaders.

Democracy, even in the modern society is highly valued but Plato felt that the rule of the majority was dangerous to the state because the majority could as well decide to perform evil, which would hurt the many people, especially the minority who did not vote alongside the majority.

In this respect, Plato came out as one of the principled philosophers who never feared exposing his opinions even when they seemed unpopular. Looking at democracies in the contemporary world, one cannot fail to notice that his ideals concerning democracy have been initiated. For instance if one were to consider the voting patterns in the United States, one easily observes that the rule of the majority that Plato used to fear (Okpala 2) would cause the minority to suffer has been well taken care of . This is through a special voting system comprising of a voting college, in which voting rights have equally been shared between both populous states and the non-populous ones. Apart from establishing an academy for students, Plato is also known for the “allegory of the cave”, in which he exposed how the society can be blinded by illusions away from the deep realities of their physical world. In summary, Plato touched all levels of humanity, and did not confine himself to a specific field like the other authors.