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Who is the greatest western philosopher of all time?

  • 22-06-2015 11:52pm
    #1
    KOB33
    Registered Users Posts: 64 ✭✭


    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!


Comments

  • #2
    Torakx
    Registered Users Posts: 3,831 ✭✭✭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 :D

    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)


  • #3
    exaisle
    Registered Users Posts: 2,673 ✭✭✭exaisle


    1. Homer. (Simpson, that is).


  • #4
    Balf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 667 ✭✭✭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.


  • #5
    foleypio
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 138 ✭✭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


  • #6
    tiro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24 ✭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.


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  • #7
    Black Swan
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,223 CMod ✭✭✭✭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?


  • #8
    Torakx
    Registered Users Posts: 3,831 ✭✭✭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 :D
    I think you're right though. Not a philosopher in the classical sense, if at all.


  • #9
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,659 Mod ✭✭✭✭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:
    .


  • #10
    MRnotlob606
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,642 ✭✭✭MRnotlob606


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


  • #11
    countrynosebag
    Registered Users Posts: 147 ✭✭countrynosebag


    No-one for Foucault?


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  • #12
    CerebralCortex
    Registered Users Posts: 3,809 ✭✭✭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.


  • #13
    igCorcaigh
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 11,054 Mod ✭✭✭✭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


  • #14
    paddythere
    Registered Users Posts: 439 ✭✭paddythere


    countrynosebag wrote: »
    No-one for Foucault?

    To me he was just a Nietzsche wannabe


  • #15
    NSAman
    Registered Users Posts: 3,386 ✭✭✭NSAman


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


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