Everyone thinks differently and WK C Guthrie explains in his book The Greek Philosophers that philosophers think in a simple equation format. This equation, temperament x experience x previous philosophers, explains how philosophers refrain from “thinking in a vacuum.” According to Guthrie, this equation is the reason why “the answers to the ultimate questions of philosophy have varied so widely” (Guthrie 19). By looking at a specific philosopher, such as Plato, this equation can be further analyzed. The first variable, temperament, is shown by Plato's personality and interests, such as his concern with the politics depicted in Plato's Republic. The next, experience, explains why Plato has fixations with the ideas he holds and the final piece of the equation, earlier philosophers, is self-explanatory that earlier thinkers, like Socrates, become significant influences. As stated in Guthrie's The Greek Philosophers, Plato had two reasons for being a deep thinker. The first was basically to pick up where Socrates left off and build on it. The second, however, was a deeper idea to “…defend, and make worth defending, the idea of ​​the city-state as an independent unit, political, economic, and social” (Guthrie 81). This basis pushed Plato to create The Republic, a rather comprehensive system of government based on three different classes of individuals. Much of Plato's beliefs transpire from his idea of ​​the utopian political system, essentially from the importance of social roles. Convinced that our personalities are governed by three collective desires, namely rational, lively and appetitive, Plato's temperament develops. “Plato's point is that everything has a certain function to perform, and that virtue or rig... at the center of the card... a very peculiar way of thinking that everything in this world has a particular function, no matter how small. This way of thinking is more likely the result of Plato's experiences and temperament throughout his life. The final piece of the mathematical puzzle, the previous philosophers, establish the fundamental thoughts that a follower or student obtains. As humans we learn from others, this simple fact is why Guthrie's third mathematical piece is so excessive and as we learn we are persuaded to think a certain way. Plato, for example, was convinced to think like Socrates and vowed to continue his way of thinking after his teacher's death. It takes three simple things to discover what makes a philosopher's overactive mind tick, temperament, experience and previous philosophies, these three work together and create some of the most ingenious thoughts known today.