The Red Flag Flies High

Recently an international TV channel conducted a poll to adjudge the 'greatest philosopher' of the world. Karl Marx got 27.93% of the votes cast in the contest. It must have warmed the hearts of the Jyoti Basus,Surjeet Singhs and Karats. And E.M.S.Namboodripad and S.A.Dange must have turned with satisfaction in their graves. West Bengal,almost the last bastion of the Communist philosophy, had something to rejoice about. And Marx had a comfortable lead over his nearest rival,David Hume,who could get only 12.67% of the votes cast. The pecking order was like this:

1) Karl Marx (27.93%)
2)David Hume (12.67%)
3)Ludwig Wittgenstein (6.80%)
4)Friedrieche Nietzsche (6.49%)
5)Immanuel Kant (5.61%)
6)St.Thomas Aquinas (4.83%)
7)Socrates (4.82%)
8)Aristotle (4.52%)
9)Karl Popper (4.2%)

In my student days ,I had read about the classification of philosophers into four distinct categories. a)the social philosophers, b)the speculative philosophers, c)the political philosophers and d)the philosophers of science.Now,in which category do the above named philosophers fall?

Marx-political.Hume-speculative.Ludwig-?.Nietzsche-speculative.Kant-speculative.Aquinas-speculative.Socrates-social.Aristotle-social.Popper-?.Isn't it interesting to note that 4 out of 9 were speculative philosophers.And I was surprised with some glaring omissions.Plato,Confucius,Emerson,J.S.Mill,Adam Smith,Hegel,Darwin,Copernicus,Einstein,Schpopenhauer,Shankaracharya , Ramanujacharya and Madhavacharya.I don't know why all the philosophers of science and some famous speculative philosophers were left out of the contest!

At one time, Marxist thought ruled 33% of the world population.Who says Capitalism has now taken over and that Marxism is no more relevant.Our CPM friends who are supporting Congress today have a good chance to win more seats in the next elections and come closer to power.It is not an impossibility.It is very probable.