Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

Jawaharlal Nehru, byname Pandit (Hindi: “Pundit,” or “Teacher”), was the  first prime minister of independent India (1947 - 1964), who established parliamentary government and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the 1930s and ’40s.

Son of the independence advocate Motilal Nehru (1861 – 1931), Nehru was educated at home and in Britain and became a lawyer in 1912. More interested in politics than law, he was impressed by Mohandas K. Gandhi's approach to Indian independence. His close association with the Indian National Congress began in 1919; in 1929 he became its president, presiding over the historic Lahore session that proclaimed complete independence (rather than dominion status) as India's political goal. He was imprisoned nine times between 1921 and 1945 for his political activity. When India was granted limited self-government in 1935, the Congress Party under Nehru refused to form coalition governments with the Muslim League in some provinces; the hardening of relations between Hindus and Muslims that followed ultimately led to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. Shortly before Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Nehru became the first prime minister of independent India. He attempted a foreign policy of nonalignment during the Cold War, drawing harsh criticism if he appeared to favour either camp. During his tenure, India clashed with Pakistan over the Kashmir region and with China over the Brahmaputra River valley. He wrested Goa from the Portuguese. Domestically, he promoted democracy, socialism, secularism, and unity, adapting modern values to Indian conditions. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, became prime minister two years after his death.

Plato (427 - 347 вс)

The Greek philosopher Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the great philosophical schools of antiquity (ancient times). His thought had enormous impact on the development of Western philosophy.

Plato was born in Athens, Greece, the son of Ariston and Perictione, both of Athenian noble backgrounds. Plato's birth name was Aristocles, and he gained the nickname Platon, meaning broad, because of his broad build. His family had a history in politics, and Plato was destined to a life in keeping with this history. When he was young he studied music and poetry. He lived his whole life in Athens, although he traveled to Sicily and southern Italy on several occasions. One story says he traveled to Egypt. Little is known of his early years, but he was given the finest education Athens had to offer noble families, and he devoted his considerable talents to politics and the writing of tragedy and other forms of poetry. His acquaintance with Socrates (c. 469 - c. 399 BC) altered the course of his life. As Socrates' disciple, Plato adopted his philosophy and style of debate, and directed his studies toward the question of virtue and the formation of a noble character.

In his autobiographical Seventh Epistle (ca. 350 ВС), he describes his early desire to enter into politics, but his disillusionment with what he viewed as unjust regimes that came to power in the period at the end of the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 ВС). He goes on to say that, given the corrupt nature of existing societies, the only hope for a good society is one in which philosophers rule as kings.

He was a devoted follower of Socrates. Plato's main works are in the form of dialogues, generally featuring his revered teacher, Socrates, as the main spokesperson. There are continuing questions of authenticity in regard to various works, although the combination of philosophical and literary brilliance of most dialogues, including the major political ones, leaves no doubt about their authorship. However, Plato's use of the dialogue form has resulted in irresolvable issues of interpretation, including the extent to which Plato's "Socrates" represents the historical Socrates, opposed to being a vehicle for Plato's own ideas.

The two major theories that make up Platonism are the theory of Forms and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

Many of Plato's contributions to philosophy center upon his theory of forms (or ideas), which represent perfect moral, epistemological, and metaphysical standards. These exist beyond the phenomenal world and are accessible only intellectually. Plato's political theory revolves around repeated contrasts between corrupt existing political systems - including Athenian democracy—and visions of reformed politics, in which people achieve their full moral development. Plato's withering criticisms of Athenian democracy in the Gorgias (ca. 385 ВС) and to a lesser extent in other works, such as the Apology of Socrates (ca. 395 ВС), culminate in detailed exploration of a completely just city in the Republic (ca. 375 ВС), Plato's best-known political work.

Plato's later political works, the Statesman (ca. 360 ВС) and Laws (ca. 347 ВС), evince far greater interest in existing Greek political institutions and how they could be reformed. Statesman explores the practical knowledge the expert statesman must command. In Laws, his last and also longest work, the main speaker, an unnamed "Athenian Stranger," discourses on laws and institutions for a new city to be founded on Crete. The political system in this "second best" city is based on the government of laws, rather than of philosophers, in the form of a modified democracy with a complicated system of checks and balances preventing political abuse. Ideals of community of property and of family have given way to more traditional Greek institutions for all citizens, including the rulers, although again, enormous attention is paid to education.

Ever since ancient times, Plato's works have been the focus of intense scholarly and popular interest. The history of European political philosophy may be viewed as Alfred North Whitehead famously described it in his 1979 work, Process and Reality, as "a series of footnotes to Plato."