Who is the greatest western philosopher of all time?

KOB33

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest, most important western philosopher of all time? By greatest I do not mean most influential as I'm sure there wouldn't be too much disagreement over that. My list would be:

1. Schopenhauer
2. Kant
3. Spinoza
4. Plato
5. Thomas Aquinas
6. Hume
7. Leibniz
8. Kierkegaard
9. Descartes
10. Aldous Huxley

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Torakx

My list will be very biased due to having very little experience.
My no 1 would be no surprise to anyone that knows me

1. Nietzsche ( Will to power with art and the animal mind, poetic prose)

2. Descartes ( Rules for the direction of the mind)

3. Hegel (Master - slave dialectics)


4. Derrida ( For shaking the foundations of binary thinking)

5. Plato ( For showing us how not to do political philosophy lol)

6. Epictetus (Stoic philosophy, taming the will)

exaisle

1. Homer. (Simpson, that is).

Balf

Torakx wrote: »

5. Plato ( For showing us how not to do political philosophy lol)

Plato is great. He's so bad, he actually made me feel clever. Which, taking a utilitarian approach, means I suppose I have to say he's tops.

More seriously, I think we have to distinguish between who is "best" in the sense of philosophers who did something to increase understanding and "best" in the sense of philosophers who did something to provide some practical advice.

I'd say Marx did a lot to promote a deeper understanding of how social life works, but there's not much practical advice - or, at least, practical advice that subsequently proved effective.

I find Seneca, currently, is someone who says stuff that actually seems relevant to daily life.

foleypio

Epicurus, ahead of his time, a pity people didnt live like he encouraged sooner, especially in this country.

Going for a sh!t now

tiro

My votes, in no particular order, would go predominantly (though not exclusively) to analytic philosophers, since that is my own unabashed preference: WVO Quine, Bertrand Russell, David Hume, Alfred North Whitehead, Aristotle, Rudolph Carnap, Saul Kripke, Hilary Putnam, John Mackie and George Moore.

Black Swan

Torakx wrote: »

4. Derrida ( For shaking the foundations of binary thinking)

While I may agree with you that Jacques Derrida has had substantial impact upon philosophical thinking during the past half century, I am uncertain that he qualifies as a philosopher. I've read several of his works, yet I've failed to find a formally constructed philosophy. What I have found was his analytical method labeled deconstruction; i.e., is he a methodologist rather than a philosopher?

Torakx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGCiqqT9uo8
This is about as much as I know of Derrida, apart from researching and failing to utilize the deconstruction method in practical situations.
Listening again for fun
I think you're right though. Not a philosopher in the classical sense, if at all.

Manach

In no particular order and confining myself to primary works I've read: St Aquinis, Karl Popper, Rodger Scruton & Plato. Tempted to add Nietzsche but that would be presumptuous of me as his work is so advanced.

Purely for humour:

.

MRnotlob606

Bertrand Russell not only a highly intelligent man, but a pragmatic man who was imprisoned for campaigning against ww1.

countrynosebag

No-one for Foucault?

CerebralCortex

Schopenhauer nails it especially in how he anticipated Darwin in the form of Wille zu Leben. For me it echoes what I hear coming from Buddhist philosophy.

igCorcaigh

I see that Roger Scruton has passed away.

Not a Conservative myself, and have only read A short history of modern philosophy, but must look into more of his work.

RIP

paddythere

countrynosebag wrote: »

No-one for Foucault?

To me he was just a Nietzsche wannabe

NSAman

My mother, there is nothing that she doesn’t have an opinion on. She can argue points for hours.