Favorite Philosopher

[jduster]

My top favorite is David Hume.

Who are your favorite philosophers?

[turbo]

Kierkegaard is tops, IMO.

[Andre]

I try to select the best philosopher in my autograph

[disregardthat]

Immanuel Kant and Ludwig Wittgenstein are the greatest philosophers of all time!

[SW VandeCarr]

The young Wittgenstein (Tractatus), but I think he went "off the rails" late in life (On Certainty). I also like CS Peirce.

[Proton Soup]

i'm not big on philosophy. but if someone has a good idea, i'll steal it, no matter who they are.

[flyingpig]

Confucius and Lao Tzu

/thread

[Greg Bernhardt]

Gautama Buddha

[flyingpig]

Gautama Buddha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar_tasters

[Math Is Hard]

Jeff Bridges. The Dude abides.

[turbo]

Jeff Bridges. The Dude abides.Can I have his rug? I'll even blow-dry the bimbo's toenails....

[Jasongreat]

Its hard to pick a favorite. I like Marcus Aurelious, Poor Richard :), Nietzche, Epiceticus, Locke, Voltaire among others. Due to turbos prodding Kierkegaard will be the next one I read.

[Jimmy Snyder]

My top favorite is David Hume.

Who are your favorite philosophers?
My favorite philosopher is a dead philosopher too. I've been looking for someone who knows a thing or two about Hume. In A Treatise of Human Nature, what was meant when he or she said, "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them"?

[nismaratwork]

I'm a great fan of the Greeks.. Atrisotle, Plato, Diogenes, above all Socrates... and of cours the noble Testikles. :smile:

Oh, and: Eisenhowser, Kissinger, Rabbi Hillel, Sun Tzu, Voltaire, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, H.G. Wells, Phillip K. Dick... and many more.

I hate favorites... :grumpy:

edit: I'd add: Basho, and a number of other Haiku masters long dead.

"Sick on my journey,
Only my dreams will wander,
These desolate moors." (Basho's jisei no ku 'Death Poem')

So many more... often authors, generals, people like Ghandi... not professional 'philosophers'. Leonardo DaVinci for instance...

[Kevin_Axion]

Immanuel Kant, Socrates, Plato, Spinoza, and Seneca.

[nismaratwork]

Spinoza... that is a great one.


I think I'd add: Einstein, and Richard Feynman.

[Kevin_Axion]

You should read Seneca: Letter's from a Stoic, although most of his letters were lost he was extremely influential in Nero's rise to power in the Roman Empire and for a lot of the policies he created. Inevitably he was forced to commit suicide. He's very interesting.

[nismaratwork]

You should read Seneca:Letter's from a Stoic, although most of his letter were lost he was extremely influential in Nero's rise to power in the Roman Empire and for a lot of the policies he created. Inevitably he was forced to commit suicide. He's very interesting.

I'm familiar with Seneca, but I haven't read him for... too long. I'll do that, and refresh that... philosophy is basically a "re-read" subject IMO.

Socrates and Seneca... brave men.

[Kevin_Axion]

Yep, they were brave but Socrates could have escaped but chose to die, I'm not sure about Seneca.

[nismaratwork]

Yep, they were brave but Socrates could have escaped but chose to die, I'm not sure about Seneca.

True... still... oh hell, I forget the names and the event... a number of Japanese warriors were essentially forced to commit suicide. Still... to do that takes a measure of bravery to not just break and run.

Socrates... was unique.

[Kevin_Axion]

Yes, but the Romans... he would have died anyways :P.

[nismaratwork]

Yes, but the Romans... he would have died anyways :P.

Heh... the Romans were very... effective; well, for a time at least.

[Proton Soup]

machiavelli, temujin, samuel clemens, virginia reed, magua, my old h.s. band director, vonnegut, heyzeus the nazarene.

[Kevin_Axion]

Clemens eh? If Einstein and Clemens had a lovechild it would be Edvard Grieg.

[Proton Soup]

i had to google it, but that's hilarious!

[Lacy33]

Noam Chomsky, nismaratwork, Leo Buscaglia.

[mugaliens]

My son. He raises questions and issue about which I doubt few philosophers ever have.

[waht]

Plato, and Socrates in Plato's 'Apology' , Camus, Sartre, Nietzsche

I haven't read much of Hume and Spinoza, but I'll include them as well.

[Math Is Hard]

My favorite philosopher is a dead philosopher too. I've been looking for someone who knows a thing or two about Hume. In A Treatise of Human Nature, what was meant when he or she said, "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them"?

I am going to take this as a request to re-open the thread in the Philosophy forum that you asked to have closed.

[Jimmy Snyder]

I am going to take this as a request to re-open the thread in the Philosophy forum that you asked to have closed.
Have at it. However, I think you will find that the older thread, which is in the philosophy forum, violates the spirit if not the letter of the new rules for posting. That thread was intended as a joke as was my post in this thread. This thread is not in the philosophy forum and isn't subject to its rules.

[ThomasT]

Noam Chomsky, nismaratwork, Leo Buscaglia.I'm not sure I'd call Noam Chomsky a philosopher. But I do admire his scholarship and perserverance and have learned much from him. Ditto nismaratwork. Also Apeiron, kote, StatutoryApe (I hope I got that right) and 'many' others, whose usernames I don't recall, certainly many of the mentors and science advisors, here at PF.

As for Leo Buscaglia. I saw/heard him speak about 40 years ago. All I remember is that he hugged a lot of people at the end of his talk.

Richard von Mises was influential in my early thinking.

[Alan1000]

I try to select the best philosopher in my autograph

Absolutely. It is my belief that Russell's greatness is not yet fully appreciated; we are still too close to him in time.

Queen Victoria once said, "When I have dinner with Mr Gladstone, I feel as if I have spent an evening with the cleverest man in England. But when I have dinner with Mr Disraeli, he makes me feel as if he has just spent an evening with the cleverest woman in England".

Like Disraeli, Russell has the gift of making the reader feel that she or he is as clever as himself. He speaks to you as an equal. No other philosopher in history can match the lucidity of his writing style, his intellectual assurance, and his gifts for communicating the essence of a complicated idea in terms a person of ordinary education can understand.

And (like most of the Pommie Empiricist philosophers), he is not afraid to crack a joke once in a while, and he takes neither himself nor his subject too seriously.

Which is more than you can say for the Existentialists. Kierkegaard? Sartre? Can't understand a damn word they are saying, most of the time.

[RichardParker]

My personal favorite would be Bertrand Russell.

[ThomasT]

My personal favorite would be Bertrand Russell.Yes, he was a special person as well as a great thinker and communicator.

[ThomasT]

... Russell has the gift of making the reader feel that she or he is as clever as himself. He speaks to you as an equal. No other philosopher in history can match the lucidity of his writing style, his intellectual assurance, and his gifts for communicating the essence of a complicated idea in terms a person of ordinary education can understand.

And (like most of the Pommie Empiricist philosophers), he is not afraid to crack a joke once in a while, and he takes neither himself nor his subject too seriously.Russell was, and will remain, imo, unique and special. He was, imo, a truly wise man. Someone whose lead I would be most willing to follow.

Which is more than you can say for the Existentialists. Kierkegaard? Sartre? Can't understand a damn word they are saying, most of the time.Me too. So, I didn't bother reading most of it. I think it's just some sort of literary angst, more or less. Not wisdom, or even clever. Just a bunch of whiners.

[nismaratwork]

I'm not sure I'd call Noam Chomsky a philosopher. But I do admire his scholarship and perserverance and have learned much from him. Ditto nismaratwork. Also Apeiron, kote, StatutoryApe (I hope I got that right) and 'many' others, whose usernames I don't recall, certainly many of the mentors and science advisors, here at PF.

As for Leo Buscaglia. I saw/heard him speak about 40 years ago. All I remember is that he hugged a lot of people at the end of his talk.

Richard von Mises was influential in my early thinking.

She included me, so presumably it's a demonstration of her excellent sense of humor. Then again, Noam Chomsly's scholarship and dedication have a definite philosophical air about them.

[nismaratwork]

OH... Ambrose Bierce.