The Philosophers timeline

The Philosophers were an underground orginization bent on global control through current events, controlling the global economy, and starting real war between superpowers. In the events of Metal Gear Solid 3 the Philosophers Legacy is in the hands of a madman named Colonel Volgin who wants to use the Legacy in creating World War III between the United States and the Soviet Union but ultimately fails by the hands of Naked Snake. In turn, Ocelot aquires half of the legacy and laters retrieves documents that could possibly reboot the Philosophers. In the events of Metal Gear Solid 4 it appears that Liquid Ocelot has already rebooted the Philosophers.

United States of America + Union of Soviet Socialist Republics + China (Est. 1900?) |                                    |                                     |                              The Philosophers |                                    +  The Boss aka The Joy |                            Internal Conflict |                          All Original Members Died (1930s) |                                    |                                     |--The Philosophers Legacy |         Volgin's Father captures the Legacy --| |                     |                  Volgin inherits the money |                               |                      GRU + Cobra Unit + Brezhnev |                               | Shagohod |              Virtuous Mission + Operation Snake Eater |                               |     EVA has the fake legacy ---|--- Ocelot has half of the legacy |              The Pentagon + The CIA |                               % --- San Hyeronimo Incident |                                              |--- Cunningham fails |                           Ocelot retrieves documents from CIA Director