The ideas introduced to us by these men still have us studying them nearly 300 years later due to the fact that their ideas are still relevant to our society. Their ideas have influenced us as humans to take a turn for ourselves and make us realize that we have the knowledge to realize things that are wrong in society. That we have the knowledge to correct our previous or past mistakes and correct them so that those same mistakes won't happen again. That we have the knowledge to know we have natural rights and that when those rights are taken from us as citizens, we have the right to fight back for those rights. Not only did these philosophers set up foundations for leaders and historical figures at the time to build upon, it set up foundations for future leaders (which we may not even know about) to build upon. Their knowledge and their ideas allowed people to realize what's truly going on in the world, that they must use their own mind to believe what they want to believe and that they don't have to believe what everyone else believes. These philosophers make us see the truth to the world and the ways to discover truth. And for these reasons, it just makes us appreciate philosophy that much more, for showing us the ways of opening up our minds and realizing what direction we, the people, want to take planet earth in.