As it can be inferred from the title, discussion on philosophical brilliance is just a catch, it can be a meaningless task, and it is not easy to rank philosophies or ideologies in any order.
There is no perfect philosophy till date which provides answer to all human queries. Certain ideologies might be relevant during some decades or centuries, but they might lose its relevance in later stages. But no philosophy is complete, and none has outlived without any changes. Philosophies need to constantly evolve with time, adding and deleting its ideologies. Failure to change will cause philosophies to die.
But a few thoughts in this regard. Which ever philosophy ( economic, social, religious or political) you choose that philosophy –
- should give importance to individual freedom.
- should be practical.
- should ensure that no class is exploited – no philosophy is good if it is not able to give meals to all participants in the chain even after their efforts.
- should align with the inborn instincts of man.
- should not result to huge accumulation of wealth in few hands which might result loss of control of social machinery.
- should reward efforts – rewards proportional to the efforts.
- should reward innovation and knowledge.
- should reward deeds and not needs.
- should not create a lazy, corrupt, authoritarian society.
Religious philosophies as an answer towards the question of meaning of life were dominant from thousands of years back. But they too have evolved. The era after industrialization saw the emergence of many economic and political philosophies which co-existed with the religious philosophies to an extend. But only time can tell the fate of any particular school of thought – not only to stand the test of feasibility and practicality, but also as an answer to human questions.