The Philosophers

The Philosophers were a secret group of the most wealthy and powerful minds from the United States, Russia, and China, formed after World War I. In theory, these three groups were already driving political forces in their respective countries.

Originzs
The first group of Philosophers was known as the Wisemen's Committee. Their assembly established an unseen union between the three nations that lasted for several decades.

By the time World War II began, the power and reach of the Philosophers had grown exponentially. They were now the unquestioned force behind each government. They ran independent political forces, had their own agents, and trained schools of operatives that would undermine seats of power throughout other governments.

To fight the war more efficiently, the individuals that composed the Committee pooled their resources, totalling an estimated one hundred billion dollars - a fortune unmatched by any that preceded or followed it. This money was used to develop entirely new forms of warfare that would dominate global affairs for decades to come; rocketry, nuclear weapons, and superhuman soldiers such as the Cobra Unit.

Despite this, however, there were hints that the Philosophers may have been feuding with each other even during World War II. The Wisemen's Committee were mentioned by one of their members to have a traitorous nature to his daughter and was murdered for it. During World War II, the Russian Philosophers also attempted to sabotage the American Philosophers' Manhattan Project by supplying misinformation about one of the key Manhattan Project scientists, John von Neumann, as a Nazi spy sent to sabotage the Manhattan Project because they didn't want the America Philosophers to build their own Plutonium bomb yet.

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The Cold War
When the last member of the original Wisemen's Committee died after World War II, these funds were divided and hidden in secret bank accounts in Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia, and other such economic strongholds; the deposition known only by a select few. The records of the transactions were stored on a single microfilm; the only means to access the vast fortune. This fortune became known as the Philosophers' Legacy.

With the death of the Wisemen's Committee and the loss of the Legacy, the whole organization lost control with tensions rising between the nations and among the Philosophers, tearing the group and the world into three superpowers; America, Russia, and China. Cause and effect were as one; the tension between the three feuding remnants of the Philosophers was the hidden face of the Cold War as each group attempted to concentrate power in their own nation. One of the main reasons why the Cold War started was the rivalry and fight for the Legacy, between the three nations. All of the three nations were fighting for the wealth since they required the Philosophers' Legacy to win the Cold War and become the dominant superpower.

Colonel Volgin's father was the group's financial manager, and was able to maintain complete control of it when its leadership died. Volgin thus inherited the Legacy, enabling him to build his fortress and carry out many projects (including the Shagohod), his resources practically unlimited.

In 1964, after Naked Snake destroyed the Shagohod and killed both Colonel Volgin and The Boss, the DCI took possession of the Legacy via the American Philosophers' triple agent Ocelot. Meanwhile, Chinese Philosophers' agent EVA returned with data on the Shagohod but was subsequently fired for failing to retrieve the Legacy.

The "end" of the Philosophers
During the 1960s, the United States Department of Defense began to feel threatened by the CIA's growing influence in America's military affairs, especially in reference to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, the covert ops in North Vietnam, and the Metal Gear project. By 1970, there was an internal power struggle within the American Philosophers (between the CIA and the DoD) that led to the San Hieronymo Takeover. Tired of the American Philosophers's bickering, Zero and Ocelot decided it was time to reform the Philosophers.

After Naked Snake destroyed Gene's nuclear missile, former Philosopher sleeper agent Ocelot (working together with Zero) killed the DCI, thus accquiring complete control of the Philosophers' Legacy and the complete list with the identities of the Philosopher members. In the aftermath, Zero ended the Philosophers and led the reorganized American Philosophers to continue the omnipotence over the American government and way of life, eventually gaining worldwide influence as Zero's misinterpretation of The Boss's wish for a united world led him to become as tyrannical as the organization he had overthrown.

Behind the scenes
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it is stated that the Wisemen's Committee had been dead for "about 100 years." Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater reveals that the groups' members had actually died out during the Great Depression. The original given date is commented upon by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, when he points out to Roy Campbell that, "The data we got from Arsenal Gear was a load of crap. Twelve founders who've all been dead for a hundred years... Give me a break."