Yes, agree that those philosophers did not represent their societies as a whole. But it is not fair to say that they were totally separated from their time either. For example how sortition was the rule of choice in Athens: it echoes a careful thoughtfulness about how to organize society that included every citizen (excluding women, slaves and barbarians, granted) in an intelligent discourse.
Our time in contrast has outsourced thinking to experts, who in turn don't think at all, only use various automations (maths or other systems) to synthesize something that is instrumental in some way, be it to sway peoples opinions or (vastly more common) get into their pockets (I've been in marketing, I know how it works). Even free will has been mathematically 'disproved' in our time, and many believe it to be so, so why bother use any moral agency at all?
Too broad a brush? Maybe. But history does have a way of labeling eras. And my guess is ours will be labelled as the era of great automation, without any thoughtful direction.
Our time in contrast has outsourced thinking to experts, who in turn don't think at all, only use various automations (maths or other systems) to synthesize something that is instrumental in some way, be it to sway peoples opinions or (vastly more common) get into their pockets (I've been in marketing, I know how it works). Even free will has been mathematically 'disproved' in our time, and many believe it to be so, so why bother use any moral agency at all?
Too broad a brush? Maybe. But history does have a way of labeling eras. And my guess is ours will be labelled as the era of great automation, without any thoughtful direction.