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Favorite PhilosophersBengt
Give me your favorite Philosophers;
I like it, it's very interesting; some of my favourites to read: - Nietzsche - Kant - Marx - Plato - and many more  Lennon
Of all time- St Augistine, he describes science, tries to explain love and God. Really cool. Thomas Aquinas was much more deeper, and gave some really cool philosophies, especially his proof of first cause of all effects, the first mover that must be God.
Paul Davies is my favourite modern philosopher. His work on the universe, singularity, and God really inspired me. Plato was too basic for me, his descriptions of good and bad and reason and purpose in life is too basic, I get far more from St Augistine. Socrates was an interesting guy, a bit wild and eccentric, but some of his ideas are strikingly reasonable. Code of Ruin
Do Montesquieu, Hobbes and HLA Hart qualify as philosophers? If so then those are my favourites. If not then I prefer Aristotle.
Plz excuse me if I get some names wrong in English. Soulfire
I don't think he counts as a philosopher, but for some reason Nostradamus has amazed me (ever since I've seen shows about him on the History Channel and Discovery Channel).
Xminor131
George Carlin used to seem enlightening to me but, he went completely senile somewhere around about the same time I decided I should quit abusing mind altering substances. Coincedence?
 Sappho
Confucius is my favourite but listing all that i like would take up too much space.
 anticitizen1
- Nietzsche
- Kant - Marx - Ortega y gasset - SOCRATES - DEMOCRITO - heraclito - Engels - Luckas - Proudhon mmm, those. no more. SunburnedCactus
Voltaire, I suppose. And maybe Plato, going back a bit further.
adiutrix
NOT Marx, as Communism affected my family personally from day one of the Revolution.
I say Pythagoras, he invented the Pythagoras theorem, came in handy on that math exam
Socrates wasn't bad either, just needed someone else to present his ideas for him  Simulator
Baudrillard, author of the greatest book ever Simulacra and Simulation
Code of Ruin
The Philosopher Princess
Just one of my favorites is British-American political theorist, Thomas Paine (1737-1809). I find his common sense pleas against tyranny very inspiring.
Idoru
I enjoy to read the 'classic' western philosophers aswell as eastern ones, even if I used to read more than I take the time to nowadays. I guess family and work is a greater priority then it used to be
* J.P Sartre, I must say has some interessting thoughts on the human mind. * Karl Marx, as a philosopher rather then ideologist or econom, have some  according the frames within wich we live.
* Sören Kirkegaard, a hero of insight in the human memory. But then again, these are thoughts from an other time then the one we live in, and I like to say that philosophy is far from dead, and not as often found in the universities as on stages and in books. As some of you might be familiar with, I find the worlds of SF to be an extraordinary good place to give air to ones ideas. Nobody mixes their own reallity with the one described, hence the lack of prejudice. One can dig right into the point, not having to argue about common foundations first. You just take your own plattform and add the thought to it! 
Here I'd like to give space for a couple of other names, perhaps not thought of as philosophers rather then singers or writers. * Philip K Dick, read him! * William Gibson, without whom films like 'the Matrix' propablly would have looked a bit different... * Moody Blues, a semi-phsycadellic rock-band. * Luke Rhinehart, who gave us 'the Dice-man' (speaking of free-will vs. Determinism  )
* Bob Marley, in no need of any presentation. I could go on and on with this list, but then, whats the point of just babbling and emptying a subject before having heard a second opinion? So, what do you others think of this angle? Is it possible to be a philosopher without beeing schooled in 'the classics', or to be precise, 'the western classics'? Where, or presented by whom, do you find the philosophies of 'our time'? Gieter
Nietschze, Kant and Voltaire => these guys knew how to rock, that's for sure!
tonk
In philosophy of religion my favorites are:
-Rene Guenon -Thomas Aquinas -Mircea Eliade -Mani -Frithjof Schuon - Siddhartha Gautama -Julius Evola In other areas of philosophy I have other favorites, but from this list my very favorites are : Frithjof Schuon and Thomas Aquinas. Has anyone read something of these authors? The Philosopher Princess
Yes, but The Truth is the Truth. Some Truths were discovered long ago, so these can’t be discounted just because they’re “old”. Doing philosophy depends on seeking the Truth of some sort or other. In this day and age -- or, for that matter, in any day and age -- real philosophers (including common everyday people, as well as professionals) will prove for themselves: (1) some things that were known to be True long ago, (2) some things that were recently discovered to be True, and (3) some things that the philosopher discovers fresh for themselves. ~~~~~~~~~~
I answer with an emphatic yes! Studying the classics, as well as studying “outside-the-norm” writers and thinkers can be very helpful to one’s personal education. But to be a philosopher, a real philosopher, one must think for themselves, which means not just following others. Reading and listening to others is good to get one’s own mind rolling, not as an end, in and of itself. One can also start from scratch without studying the classics. Why? Because The Truth is the Truth no matter who (re)discovers it when. I’m trying to think of a good comparison. People can learn about science from great scientists. But to actually be a scientist one must perform processes of science themselves. If they only believe what other scientists have said and only do what others have done, they’re really more of a lab monkey than an actual scientist. The world needs lab monkeys, but it also needs real scientists and real philosophers. ~~~~~~~~~~ Idoru, I’d like to hear your thoughts on my reply to you. I also appreciate how you think and wish you well with discovering your own philosophies.494701557
i've actually been thinking about doing some reading on philosophy. anyone got any good suggestions? i guess some of my bigger interests are philosophies on meaning of life, love, and god. i'm not really interested in the political/republic things.
Idoru
Absolutley! The way we measure time, in a linear way, is another mather often discussed in philosophy. I'd say that the linear concept is just a way of making sure that we talk about the same thing, and through that be able to make comparations. But actually truth is timeless if revealed so clearly that there's just nothing more to say 
~~~~~~~~~~
And I'm so glad that you do. Also a known wisdom (if there now is any unknown ), the one that a true philosopher must see every day with the eyes of a child, a very open mind. For me philosophy is much about discovering life, and foremost - living it. And in that laboratory we're propablly all each others monkeys...
Philosopher Princess, thank you for some nice angles, and I hope I've not just twisted them around with my reply. I'm sorry it took some time, but I've been caught up in travelling, living and configuring  Rhysige
All the way mate
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. elincinerador
well.. it may be a tough desition between thomas aquinas or aristotle.. very different philosophers so i can't reach a conclusion... but certanly i dislike marx, his theory resulted to fail, humans need private property, not everyone is the same because not everyone gives the same to society. that goes for all of those who mentioned this man.
Idoru
I both disagree and agree with you. But for one thing I agree with Marx on, is, as I've said, that humans to some point are products of the society they live in. Much of our notion of reality is decided on norms so accepted that we hardly question them. Thus, the rest of his thoughts might be hard to reach, since we don't have the eyes to see them... On the other hand, since he, who was the thinker, didn't reach out on a level possible to try out, there is very little chance the theories will be tested. About private property, you and I will never know, since that's a hard fact for us. But I'd say Ursula K LeGuinn described a socety free of personal property in a novel called 'The dispossesed'. rksagar433
i like osho philosphy .it is very clear and also easy to understand.
snjripp
I enjoy Paine, Gadamer in conjunction with Derrida, Plato, Wittgenstein, and Hussarl.
doomz
my favor philosophy is
Confusism - Tao Te Ching The Philosopher Princess
Thanks for the reply, Idoru.
Truth does not depend on its being revealed (whether clearly or not clearly). In other words, if something is true, then it’s true whether or not someone is aware of it being true. I agree that truth is timeless. Elochai
As Nietzsche says, "Plato is boring." And I'd have to agree. The Republic was a good start, but basically serves little purpose to me now. I've been reading a lot of Nietzsche lately, as well as some Kierkegaarde (sp?) and Freud and some Marx.
amicalindia
Well I read all the posts and found no oriental philosopher except one guy saying 'OSHO'. There are lot of Indian and Chinese philosophers.
To name a few: Tao Confucius Buddha Shankara Ramanuja By the way can Gandhi be called a 'philosopher' or a 'politician with excessive morality and unconventional ideas'? nopaniers
I agree. Paul Davies. fireydeviant
My favorite is Nietzsche.
Albert Einstein had some interesting things to say: "Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." As did Niels Bhor: "Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question." And Che Guevara: "I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." Emerson is my second favorite: "Tomorrow will be like today. Life wastes itself whilst we are preparing to live." and "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." I find Wikiquote a great source for one liners, any suggestions as to other sites such as this? Also remember to read the whole books, as it will give you more perspective into the ideas as a whole. Marston
Karl Marx fo' shizzle.
veroniap
Mircea Eliade
Jean Guitton Emile Cioran Francis A. Schaeffer BruceTheDauber
Philosophers can be good in different ways: good writing, interesting arguments, sound arguments (not necessarily interesting) and valuable insights. With Nietzche, you get most of those, except for sound arguments. With Kant, you get interesting arguments, but dull writing and no valuable insights. With Plato, you get good writing (lively dialogues), but a lot of variability in the soundness of the arguments and the value of the insights.
Hume is the greatest philosopher of all time, in my opinion, because of the value of his insights (all of Kant's writing is a response to Hume, but Kant adds nothing), and because his writing is clear, and his arguments are interesting. The Philosopher Princess
I am epistemogically skeptical of Hume’s skeptical epistemology of cause-and-effect. BruceTheDauber
You made me chuckle there, but you have to admit, even if you don't accept Hume's conclusions, that the argument he came up with was novel and is still interesting when people come across it today, and has opened up whole new lines of discussion that were not really thought about in any depth before. The Philosopher Princess
Okie dokie, BruceTheDauber, I will admit that. But you have to admit that being “novel” and “interesting” are not reasons to be considered “the greatest philosopher of all time”. We would need something more to go on, for example, a discovery that is actually true.
If you want to reassert any Hume discoveries, the truth of which you are willing to defend (on a new or applicable Frihost thread), let me know and I’ll look into them. But, in any case, I will chuckle with you. See ya ‘round!BruceTheDauber
Most philosophers are wrong about lots of things, even the best of them -- perhaps especially the best of them, because a philosopher who doesn't go out on a limb and risk being wrong is probably not a great philosopher. I think if you come up with a new and interesting argument, that makes people think, you've created progress even if in the end people decide your conclusions are wrong. I'll just add that I'd rather be guided by Hume on aesthetics than by Kant. cyph33r
Nietzsche is a legend.
Michael Foucault too. aegir
I love Nietzsche
The Philosopher Princess
I wholemindedly agree! Like you, I encourage people to do that. One just hopes that the great philosophers (and scientists, etc.) -- after having chosen lots of limbs that keep cracking and breaking -- and after having chosen other limbs that everyone keeps falling off of -- well, one hopes that those philosophers will eventually figure out how to choose a limb or 2 that doesn’t crack and break, and that people can actually stay on without falling to the ground cracking their own heads. In other words, part of philosophy is seeking truth, an endeavor in which some mistakes are to be expected. But, to be a great philosopher, one needs to actually discover some great truth that will rigorously stand up to tests of its validity. ~~~~~~~~~~
Timothy McVeigh [%%] made lots of people think, but many people would not say he was great. Sometimes making people think includes a lot of destruction that should have been avoided. People who are great actually do something that is great. Teachers can be great for devising methods to get people to think; those methods are what’s great. Someone who’s a great philosopher must have devised something philosophical. You are the one who declared.....
.....so surely you must know something philosophical that Hume discovered or devised that you consider great. In fact, by your using “of all time”, I’d expect you to know lots such great Hume things. You are the one who is vouching for him. Aren’t any worthy of sharing with other people? We need some Hume limbs which won’t break and crack our heads if we go out on them after he did.
~~~~~~~~~~ [%%] McVeigh had philosophical reasons for blowing up an Oklahoma City building and killing many people. By his destruction, he made many people think. It seems like a bigger picture needs to be considered though, to consider somebody great. Shin
Confucius!
Don't give me a fish. Teach me how to fish instead! refes
i love hannah arendt:) it's so nice to read her texts about the politic;) yeah;)
but i also read antic philosophers of course;) what about nietzsche;] - so, i think it really nice to know his philosophy, but i don't know why, i can read his texts only in german:] polish translations are horrible:P mialynavahy
i love plato, here's my best quote :
"At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet" Plato death_dealer
confusius
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