View Poll Results: Who is the greatest of them all?

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30. You may not vote on this poll
  • Nozick

    0 0%
  • Socrates

    0 0%
  • Plato

    0 0%
  • Jesus

    4 13.33%
  • Karl Popper Popper

    1 3.33%
  • Leibniz

    1 3.33%
  • Jeremy Bentham

    1 3.33%
  • Descartes

    1 3.33%
  • Spinoza

    1 3.33%
  • Locke

    1 3.33%
  • Berkeley

    0 0%
  • Hume

    2 6.67%
  • Kant

    4 13.33%
  • Nietzsche

    3 10.00%
  • Schopenhauer

    0 0%
  • Epicurus

    0 0%
  • Ayn Rand

    3 10.00%
  • Heidegger

    1 3.33%
  • Husserl

    0 0%
  • Russell

    1 3.33%
  • Wittgenstein

    4 13.33%
  • Ayer

    0 0%
  • Sartre

    2 6.67%
  • Rousseau

    0 0%
  • J. S. Mill

    0 0%
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Thread: GREATEST PHILOSOPHER

  1. #1
    Ezra's Avatar
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    Default GREATEST PHILOSOPHER

    CAST YOUR VOTE!

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    Snomunegot munenori2's Avatar
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    Not a big fan of Eastern philosophy I take it.

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    Sauron, The Great Enemy ArchonAlarion's Avatar
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    Thats not philosophy thats "barbarian mysticism" thankyouverymuch.
    The end is nigh

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    LϺαο Not A Communist Shill's Avatar
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    I voted for Russell. It was either him or Hume for me.

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    I voted Wittgenstein because he was of the general opinion that reading philosophy makes one dull.
    First eliminate every possible source of error. Thence success is inevitable.

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    Let's fly now Gilly's Avatar
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    Me.
    But, for a certainty, back then,
    We loved so many, yet hated so much,
    We hurt others and were hurt ourselves...

    Yet even then, we ran like the wind,
    Whilst our laughter echoed,
    Under cerulean skies...

  7. #7
    <something> Wynch's Avatar
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    Foucault
    ILE
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    Very busy with work. Only kind of around.

  8. #8
    Your DNA is mine. Mediator Kam's Avatar
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    I was in the bathroom yesterday yelling at the mirror "I TAKE IT YOU HAVEN'T READ YOUR BASIC KANT!"

    No kidding.

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    Snomunegot munenori2's Avatar
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    I had to give Spinoza some love, but I would have gone Chuang Tzu over anybody else. Second tier picks for me would be Locke/Witty/Nietzsche over Hume simply because of the readibility and style. Of the ones I've read I had the most difficulty with Kant and the most derision for Ayn Rand (she's tied for the lead too lol), although I don't pretend to be that familiar with the work of some of the more contemporary voices like Nozick or Ayer or most any of the Frenchies.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jxrtes View Post
    Can't go wrong with Kant. But that list could be bigger.
    HOLY SHIT YOUR AVATAR FREAKS ME OUT!!!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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    Quote Originally Posted by mn0good View Post
    Foucault

    Ya. I like him too. Too bad his isn't on the LIST! Simone de Beauvior isn't on the list either, which I think should be noted.
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  12. #12
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    I vote for Fonzie or Mr. C.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by mn0good View Post
    Foucault
    My exact thought when reading the poll, down to the

    Also Ez, minus points for your lack of the ladies. And post-structuralists. But that's just my bias showing. I'm sorry, I can't vote, I don't agree with the terms of engagement.
    allez cuisine!

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    Snomunegot munenori2's Avatar
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    That makes me think of Virginia Woolf and something of hers I read (A Room of One's Own, I think?). She would be up there on my list for that alone.

    But, damn, I really don't have a clue who Foucault is. Maybe I should look him up sometime.

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    Quote Originally Posted by munenori2 View Post
    Not a big fan of Eastern philosophy I take it.
    I was considering sticking Chuang Tse and Lao Tse in there. But I wasn't seeing them as "real" philosophers.

    Quote Originally Posted by ArchonAlarion View Post
    Thats not philosophy thats "barbarian mysticism" thankyouverymuch.
    Yep.

    Quote Originally Posted by Subterranean View Post
    It was either him or Hume for me.
    Hume is brilliant.

    Quote Originally Posted by jxrtes View Post
    But that list could be bigger.
    True. But I was getting bored.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by idolatrie View Post
    My exact thought when reading the poll, down to the

    Also Ez, minus points for your lack of the ladies. And post-structuralists. But that's just my bias showing. I'm sorry, I can't vote, I don't agree with the terms of engagement.
    There are no female philosophers.

    OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NO HE DI'UUUUUUUUUUUN'T!!!!!!!!!11

    To be honest, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Simone de Beauvoir.

    ETA: Ayn Rand! She is brilliant. She was up there all along.

  17. #17
    idolatrie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezra View Post
    There are no female philosophers.

    OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NO HE DI'UUUUUUUUUUUN'T!!!!!!!!!11

    To be honest, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Simone de Beauvoir.

    ETA: Ayn Rand! She is brilliant. She was up there all along.




    de Beauvoir is a good start. Irigaray, Cixous, Kristeva, Butler, Wollstonecraft are the ones I've read and consider myself familiar with.
    allez cuisine!

  18. #18
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    Did you list Kierkegaard..? And Heidegger, with his overly thick sentences.

    I'd pick Simone de Beauvoir... The ethics of ambiguity is probably my favorite book of this ilk.

    (I wouldn't mind living like Jean-Jacques though... Except, you know, perhaps I'd be slightly better to my family... Perhaps and slightly.)

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    Try Julia Kristeva for a female post-structuralist philosopher.

    Also, you're missing a lot of people there! What about Althusser, Lacan, Todorov, Barthes etc etc etc. Sure, with structuralism and post-structuralism, you're moving ever more away from strict 'philosophy' toward a blending with other 'schools' or 'disciplines', which is why I prefer using the broader category of theorists.

    But my favourite is and most likely always will be Foucault. I think I even mentioned him my type thread, as though adoring him would somehow help me discover my type.
    ()
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    ILE - ENTp 1981slater's Avatar
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    What about Mr Miyagi (Karate Kid movie)?

    ILE "Searcher"
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  21. #21
    <something> Wynch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by munenori2 View Post
    That makes me think of Virginia Woolf and something of hers I read (A Room of One's Own, I think?). She would be up there on my list for that alone.

    But, damn, I really don't have a clue who Foucault is. Maybe I should look him up sometime.
    o.o

    What. The. Fuck. Whatthefuck. Knowledge is power? Yes? No? Maybe? *BRAIN IMPLODES*

    You and me, we're going to have to have a talk, Mister.

    Also, I would like to note that there are something like 4 people voting for Foucault who isn't even on the list.
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  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by idolatrie View Post




    de Beauvoir is a good start. Irigaray, Cixous, Kristeva, Butler, Wollstonecraft are the ones I've read and consider myself familiar with.
    I've never even heard of any of those. They're not mainstream philosophers, are they? They're even less well-known than philosophers such as Carnap, Putnam, Kuhn, Quine and Frege. They probably rank along side philosophers like Block, Fodor, Jackson and Kripke.

    Quote Originally Posted by JuJu View Post
    Did you list Kierkegaard..? And Heidegger, with his overly thick sentences.
    Heidegger's there. I considered Kierkegaard.

    Quote Originally Posted by unefille View Post
    Try Julia Kristeva for a female post-structuralist philosopher.

    Also, you're missing a lot of people there! What about Althusser, Lacan, Todorov, Barthes etc etc etc. Sure, with structuralism and post-structuralism, you're moving ever more away from strict 'philosophy' toward a blending with other 'schools' or 'disciplines', which is why I prefer using the broader category of theorists.
    But this is about the greatest philosopher - not the greatest theorist. Otherwise the list would be epic.

    But my favourite is and most likely always will be Foucault. I think I even mentioned him my type thread, as though adoring him would somehow help me discover my type.
    I did consider him as well, but didn't think he was as prominent as some of the others.

    Quote Originally Posted by 1981slater View Post
    What about Mr Miyagi (Karate Kid movie)?

    Fuck him. He's overrated.

  23. #23
    <something> Wynch's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezra View Post
    I did consider him as well, but didn't think he was as prominent as some of the others.
    Apparently he is since he has the most votes thus far
    ILE
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  24. #24

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    Not in the list.
    ...the human race will disappear. Other races will appear and disappear in turn. The sky will become icy and void, pierced by the feeble light of half-dead stars. Which will also disappear. Everything will disappear. And what human beings do is just as free of sense as the free motion of elementary particles. Good, evil, morality, feelings? Pure 'Victorian fictions'.

    INTp

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    Sauron, The Great Enemy ArchonAlarion's Avatar
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    I voted for ayn rand, not because I think she's the greatest, but because I wanted to break the tie between her and fuckin Jesus.
    The end is nigh

  26. #26
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    I wanted to vote for myself, but I voted for Neitzsche because I feel that he would have agreed with me.
    Wond'ring aloud, How we feel today. Last night sipped the sunset, My hand in her hair. We are our own saviours, As we start both our hearts, Beating life Into each other. ~Ian Anderson

  27. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArchonAlarion View Post
    I voted for ayn rand, not because I think she's the greatest, but because I wanted to break the tie between her and fuckin Jesus.
    Jesus rocks. Ayn Rand queefs dust.

  28. #28
    Sauron, The Great Enemy ArchonAlarion's Avatar
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    I hear that she can shoot centipedes out of her vagina too.

    Thats from E.D. so I know it must be truth.
    The end is nigh

  29. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArchonAlarion View Post
    I hear that she can shoot centipedes out of her vagina too.

    Thats from E.D. so I know it must be truth.

  30. #30
    Let's fly now Gilly's Avatar
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    Ew, Descartes? Seriously? Are you a Christian solipsist?
    But, for a certainty, back then,
    We loved so many, yet hated so much,
    We hurt others and were hurt ourselves...

    Yet even then, we ran like the wind,
    Whilst our laughter echoed,
    Under cerulean skies...

  31. #31
    Hot Message FDG's Avatar
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    Wittgenstein was the most genial, especially in his paradoxical conclusion in regard to the study of philosophy.
    Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit

  32. #32
    Jarno's Avatar
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    define greatest...

    longest influential: aristotle


    I choose Locke, thanks to him we got the scientific revolution. Otherwise we would still use the bible as our book of knowledge.

  33. #33
    Creepy-Diana

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    .

  34. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by mn0good View Post
    o.o

    What. The. Fuck. Whatthefuck. Knowledge is power? Yes? No? Maybe? *BRAIN IMPLODES*

    You and me, we're going to have to have a talk, Mister.


    You'll have to tell me about it sometime.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ezra View Post
    I've never even heard of any of those. They're not mainstream philosophers, are they? They're even less well-known than philosophers such as Carnap, Putnam, Kuhn, Quine and Frege. They probably rank along side philosophers like Block, Fodor, Jackson and Kripke.
    Funnily enough, I've heard of and read something from every one of those fuckers.

    Quote Originally Posted by hkkmr View Post
    Chuang Tzu and Confucius are two great secular Chinese philosophers.

    Chuang Tzu and Tao Te Jing are pretty fun, but I only like Lin Yutang translation.

    A lot of Taoist concepts are mis-translated and taking a Zen/Buddahist influenced/rational interpretation of Taoism causing a lot of translation mistakes. Taoism is amoral, even hedonistic, irrational, outward looking while Zen is austere, often rational, inward looking.

    Spinoza is actually pretty good Taoist, from a philosophical similarity perspective.

    From Spinoza comes Einstein, Hegel, Marx, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, among the many he is a revered predecessor.
    Oh yeah, I definitely agree on the Spinoza/Tao similarities. I just happened to be taking my modern phil class while I was taking chinese thought and I was all at how connected they seemed to be. A friend of mine has gotten pretty heavy into the Tao Te Jing the last year or two and he's waaaay towards the Zen perspective of it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gilly View Post
    Ew, Descartes? Seriously? Are you a Christian solipsist?
    This made me lol.






    Also, it just occurred to me that no one mentioned Dr. Seuss!

  35. #35
    LϺαο Not A Communist Shill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FDG View Post
    Wittgenstein was the most genial, especially in his paradoxical conclusion in regard to the study of philosophy.
    I thought he was rather arrogant.

  36. #36
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  37. #37
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    In my mind, Wittgenstein is, by far, the greatest philosopher. He is the one philosopher to date who seems to have the best understanding of philosophy . How else can you explain so much confusion, so much disagreement, and so little philosophical certainty? I think that his answer that philosophy is an attempt to take language from its everyday use and to (hopelessly) try and find general patterns in it - through this same language - is the best explanation for these problems that I've seen so far. I don't really care for the Tractatus, but Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty blew my mind away.

    Jason

  38. #38
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    even richard nixon has got soul ... dadadadaderrrrr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    wittgenstein won my vote

  39. #39
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    The question is in regards to the greatest philosopher and not necessarily about one's favorite philosopher (sorry Spinoza :frown, so I voted for Kant. Why Kant? The birth of modern philosophy was divided into two main camps: rationalists (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz) and the empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, Hume). Kant argued against and reconciled both while also creating his own original ideas. While I am not a fan of the German idealism that followed Kant, he cannot be held responsible for the bad philosophers that followed. Modern philosophy (secular and religious) lives in his philosophical wake. There is no return to Pre-Kantian philosophy; he changed the nature of the philosophical framework.
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    Quote Originally Posted by hkkmr View Post
    Kant's was very influential, but I think he was a good influence in some areas, and a poor one in others. From what I remember, I think his moral philosophy was a bit regressive, and his defense of God apologist. I think I would enjoy Kant more now that I'm a milder person, but my bias will remain for a while longer.
    Kant's moral argument is rather weak as his defense of God (the way he words it even casts some amount of doubt as to his own sense of belief), but I think that was a case where he wrote himself into a corner and couldn't quite take his philosophy to its conclusions. But Kant was also highly Christianity and many of his critiques of pure reason have just about flat out killed defenses of God from those approaches. It almost sounded like an appeasement to the religious and perhaps even his own Pietist background.

    Since I'm not a trained philosopher, I tend to read up on many idea only after I've made the same/similiar conclusions(Spinoza) thru my own wanderings, perhaps I'm just not to Kant yet.
    Spinoza is probably one of the most thoroughly consistent philosophers, with his thoughts on a plethora of subjects tying back to the basic premises of his philosophy.
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