favorite philosopher?

[Rev. Rye]

It's a tie between Schopenhauer and Marcus Aurelius.

[Angrboda]

As a philosophy lover and one who avoids having favorites of anything, this may be difficult....

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Heraclitus. He said important things about the nature of process and change which the rest of philosophy has yet to catch up with. I just wish we had more of him.

Gottlob Frege. I don't know why. His work on logic of course, but it was his failed project on Arithmetic and his work on Sinn und Bedeutung of which I'm the most fond.

David Hume. One of the clearest thinking curmudgeons that the world has ever produced.

Zeno of Citium and the school of the Stoics (notably Cleanthes and Chrysippus). Where to begin? I love their work on virtue and ethics, but I also dig their ontology and epistemology. They are also, arguably, the world's first existentialists.

Zhuangzi, and to a lesser extent Lao Tzu. Obvious choices for a Taoist, but the order of preference is worthy of comment. Lao Tzu composed the basic melodies of Taoism, but Zhuangzi wrote symphonies.

Nagarjuna. I have very fundamental differences with the Buddha and Buddhism, but Nagarjuna was to Buddhism what Zhuangzi was to Taoism, he took the rough cut and produced a stunning diamond.


Okay. That's enough.

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Other favorites: Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, Daniel Dennett, Democritus, and Nietzsche.

Also, though not strictly philosophers, their work has had such enormous philosophical import that I would have to mention Georg Cantor, Kurt Godel, and David Hilbert in the same breath.

[justin]

Minimalist Wrote: George Carlin.


why? just the genius common sense humor, that`s one of my reason he`s a favorite comedian of mine .

He was a stand-up philosopher....one of the few who made money at it!

This is my absolute favorite speech he gives. I love irony and he was good at pulling out the irony in things and forcing you to realize what it was. I Can barley get past "are you fucking kidding me? You can't be this stupid." Phase when someone like a religious person start spouting off crazy shit with a straight face and an expression of accomplishment of speaking the bullshit they just said.

---

As a philosophy lover and one who avoids having favorites of anything, this may be difficult....

---

Heraclitus. He said important things about the nature of process and change which the rest of philosophy has yet to catch up with. I just wish we had more of him.

Gottlob Frege. I don't know why. His work on logic of course, but it was his failed project on Arithmetic and his work on Sinn und Bedeutung of which I'm the most fond.

David Hume. One of the clearest thinking curmudgeons that the world has ever produced.

Zeno of Citium and the school of the Stoics (notably Cleanthes and Chrysippus). Where to begin? I love their work on virtue and ethics, but I also dig their ontology and epistemology. They are also, arguably, the world's first existentialists.

Zhuangzi, and to a lesser extent Lao Tzu. Obvious choices for a Taoist, but the order of preference is worthy of comment. Lao Tzu composed the basic melodies of Taoism, but Zhuangzi wrote symphonies.

Nagarjuna. I have very fundamental differences with the Buddha and Buddhism, but Nagarjuna was to Buddhism what Zhuangzi was to Taoism, he took the rough cut and produced a stunning diamond.


Okay. That's enough.

---

Other favorites: Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, Daniel Dennett, Democritus, and Nietzsche.

Also, though not strictly philosophers, their work has had such enormous philosophical import that I would have to mention Georg Cantor, Kurt Godel, and David Hilbert in the same breath.

Have heard a few of these but not familiar with most of them( but with time and curiosity i shall learn) just now getting into hume but he got alot of his stuff from kant which put a twist on decartes. I love all these plus Aristotle, socrates ( not big on some of plato ironically) i like locke which i discovered by worshiping thomas paine. I like madison though he is less of the rest. Sam harris is a favorite. But overall even though i can not make my mind up about the rest hitchens will always be my favorite. (He lead me to socrates and thomas paine) he was like a serious
george carlin but much more educated and had way with word beyond imagination. I miss the ol hitch.

[Angrboda]

Have heard a few of these but not familiar with most of them( but with time and curiosity i shall learn) just now getting into hume but he got alot of his stuff from kant which put a twist on decartes.

I think you're somewhat confused. Hume preceded Kant, and Kant even credited him with waking him from his "dogmatic slumber." Even Hume's last major work, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion preceded the publication of the Critique by two years. Hume was a strict empiricist, while Kant was, well, a Kantian Idealist. The two traditions are basically diametrically opposed to each other. They couldn't be more unlike.

If you're interested in a primer, Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy is excellent; he is an elegant and eloquent writer, and worth reading for the perspicaciousness of his prose alone. I've heard great things about Bryan Magee's work as well, though I haven't read him, and a quick glance shows there are two such works to his credit (The Great Philosophers and Story Of Philosophy). They're both well reviewed, so I don't recall which one had been recommended to me. I note in passing that there is a voluminous collection of Youtube videos from his The Great Philosophers series he hosted for the BBC in which he interviewed great philosophers of our time.

I've developed an unexpected interest in Greek philosophy in the past year, though I'm interested in everyone but Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. I suppose I'll have to contend with those three, if only in summary, but I find the pre-Socratics, the Stoics, Skeptics, Cynics, and Epicureans far more interesting.

---

Here's a list that I found quite illuminating. However, having read similar lists from other sources, it becomes apparent that such lists tend to be rather idiosyncratic in their choice and ranking of philosophers. All the same, I like this list, in spite of the fact that Kant just missed the cutoff.

The Top 40 Philosophers of the Last 200 Years
by Max Andrews

Below is a list of the top forty philosophers within the last 200 years. The tally was composed of 600 votes. On a side note, I’m quite please to see David Lewis making it up to 13 and C. S. Peirce at 20.
1. Ludwig Wittgenstein (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices)
2. Gottlob Frege loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 261–160
3. Bertrand Russell loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 280–137, loses to Gottlob Frege by 218–156
4. John Stuart Mill loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 280–135, loses to Bertrand Russell by 204–178
5. W.V.O. Quine loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 291–150, loses to John Stuart Mill by 214–198
6. G.W.F. Hegel loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 290–130, loses to W.V.O. Quine by 214–210
7. Saul Kripke loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 314–138, loses to G.W.F. Hegel by 224–213
8. Friedrich Nietzsche loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 290–117, loses to Saul Kripke by 209–207
9. Karl Marx loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 359–95, loses to Friedrich Nietzsche by 254–138
10. Soren Kierkegaard loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 358–124, loses to Karl Marx by 230–213
11. Rudolf Carnap loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 345–90, loses to Soren Kierkegaard by 245–194
12. John Rawls loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 379–80, loses to Rudolf Carnap by 212–175
13. David K. Lewis loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 352–92, loses to John Rawls by 211–166
14. G.E. Moore loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 362–59, loses to David K. Lewis by 188–152
15. Donald Davidson loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 342–50, loses to G.E. Moore by 171–158
16. Martin Heidegger loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 351–63, loses to Donald Davidson by 188–161
17. Edmund Husserl loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 336–51, loses to Martin Heidegger by 169–140
18. Hilary Putnam loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 338–51, loses to Edmund Husserl by 148–138
19. William James loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 347–42, loses to Hilary Putnam by 151–146
20. Charles Sanders Peirce loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 333–40, loses to William James by 145–109

[ManMachine]

who is your favorite philosopher and why? (favorite one so far if your like me and can`t make up his damn mind)

Currently, (because it changes) British Philosopher John Gray.

[justin]

Have heard a few of these but not familiar with most of them( but with time and curiosity i shall learn) just now getting into hume but he got alot of his stuff from kant which put a twist on decartes.

I think you're somewhat confused. Hume preceded Kant, and Kant even credited him with waking him from his "dogmatic slumber." Even Hume's last major work, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion preceded the publication of the Critique by two years. Hume was a strict empiricist, while Kant was, well, a Kantian Idealist. The two traditions are basically diametrically opposed to each other. They couldn't be more unlike.

If you're interested in a primer, Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy is excellent; he is an elegant and eloquent writer, and worth reading for the perspicaciousness of his prose alone. I've heard great things about Bryan Magee's work as well, though I haven't read him, and a quick glance shows there are two such works to his credit (The Great Philosophers and Story Of Philosophy). They're both well reviewed, so I don't recall which one had been recommended to me. I note in passing that there is a voluminous collection of Youtube videos from his The Great Philosophers series he hosted for the BBC in which he interviewed great philosophers of our time.

I've developed an unexpected interest in Greek philosophy in the past year, though I'm interested in everyone but Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. I suppose I'll have to contend with those three, if only in summary, but I find the pre-Socratics, the Stoics, Skeptics, Cynics, and Epicureans far more interesting.

---

Here's a list that I found quite illuminating. However, having read similar lists from other sources, it becomes apparent that such lists tend to be rather idiosyncratic in their choice and ranking of philosophers. All the same, I like this list, in spite of the fact that Kant just missed the cutoff.

The Top 40 Philosophers of the Last 200 Years
by Max Andrews

Below is a list of the top forty philosophers within the last 200 years. The tally was composed of 600 votes. On a side note, I’m quite please to see David Lewis making it up to 13 and C. S. Peirce at 20.
1. Ludwig Wittgenstein (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices)
2. Gottlob Frege loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 261–160
3. Bertrand Russell loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 280–137, loses to Gottlob Frege by 218–156
4. John Stuart Mill loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 280–135, loses to Bertrand Russell by 204–178
5. W.V.O. Quine loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 291–150, loses to John Stuart Mill by 214–198
6. G.W.F. Hegel loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 290–130, loses to W.V.O. Quine by 214–210
7. Saul Kripke loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 314–138, loses to G.W.F. Hegel by 224–213
8. Friedrich Nietzsche loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 290–117, loses to Saul Kripke by 209–207
9. Karl Marx loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 359–95, loses to Friedrich Nietzsche by 254–138
10. Soren Kierkegaard loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 358–124, loses to Karl Marx by 230–213
11. Rudolf Carnap loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 345–90, loses to Soren Kierkegaard by 245–194
12. John Rawls loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 379–80, loses to Rudolf Carnap by 212–175
13. David K. Lewis loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 352–92, loses to John Rawls by 211–166
14. G.E. Moore loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 362–59, loses to David K. Lewis by 188–152
15. Donald Davidson loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 342–50, loses to G.E. Moore by 171–158
16. Martin Heidegger loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 351–63, loses to Donald Davidson by 188–161
17. Edmund Husserl loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 336–51, loses to Martin Heidegger by 169–140
18. Hilary Putnam loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 338–51, loses to Edmund Husserl by 148–138
19. William James loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 347–42, loses to Hilary Putnam by 151–146
20. Charles Sanders Peirce loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 333–40, loses to William James by 145–109

Oops my bad haha thanks for the clearing up.

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Idk wtf i was thinking with hume and kant just goes to show i need sleep and to read more on the two.

[jstrodel]

Bryan McGee is a good author. My favorite philosopher is the Holy Spirit and the revelations that I have received which overlap substantially with philosophy. God has given me answers to many questions that I have raised concerning salvation, the providence of God and free will, how prayer works, etc, and gave me revelations. This is my favorite, to receive revelations from God.

Recently I have been thinking about Alastair MacIntyre and Aristotle. I would like to attend school to study the relationship between analytic philosophy, linguistics and computational linguistics and teach philosophy someday, but I haven't yet been able to do so.

Before I was a Christian, my favorite philosopher was Noam Chomsky. I have since become less impressed with his approach. Other philosophers who have influenced me are David Hume and Friedrich Nietzsche and Immanuel Kant.

Recently I have studied Russell Kirk, a conservative political philosopher who has impressed me. Theologically I have been influenced by the charismatic movement a lot. I like Alvin Plantiga's approach to apologetic's and would like to get deeper into his studies of epistemology.