Greatest Philosophers in your mind

Originally posted by vicen
Excellent list, but no Plato?!

My own favourites, in no particular order, would be, -

Plato, Plotinus, Ficino, Emerson, Averroes, Eriugena, William James,
Bergson, Meister Eckhart, Henry More...

In terms of the influence they had, obviously Descartes or Kant would rank
higher for many people, but I get the most inspiration from these philosophers.

Plato is a bore-Nietszche. I like studying the platonic forms though.

reply to post by EarthquakeNewMadrid2010


there is a fundamental issue when you mean philosophical studies as creations that you can judge like other artistic linguistic fields of the world

i know how i am not credible as a writer but that doesnt matter in philosophy, even if the famous philosophers had perfect writings skills they all knew and preached how it wasnt their point, the substance truth is all what matter to philosophers, it is very easy to sustain dialectic forms it is a kind of brain exercise, but philosophers mean always the life of them as aware on free life out of the world creations frame
so they never mean languages of the world skills, they would appear then to themselves being liars and cut there any relation with their sense in being true free out

now usually free awareness is seen to love, buty this perspective is wrong, free awareness is to philosophy, and not to grasp the other as aware too for any security sense, this maybe reaction is to animals but having brains then free aware mean to think its true reality freedom with truth out

any free thinker know that the other is not you in any perspective ways, as a concept another is another for one, you cannot be a concept to yourself, you can conceptualize as objective positive existing sense, about objective life and source, that lead you to some objective truth where you as true can the most mean its relativity to

I agree entirely about the Platonic ideas, but can't concur with your other point.

Without Plato, - no aristotle, no Plotinus, no Proclus; what would Augustine have been minus the Platonic influence? And regarding Platonism in general, think of hermetic thought, gnosticism, cabalism, Giordano Bruno, the Platonic elements in Aquinas, pseudo-Dionysius, Avicenna, scholasticism, mysticism, Islamic philosophy - these are just off the top off my head, and they are all saturated with Plato.

It's no doubt a cliche, but Plato & Aristotle are the gods of philosophy, & always will be in my view.

A pretty interesting list and one that I will have to take with me when I go to my grandmother's 'Farm land area' gives me something to read when there is no TV and Internet to jump onto.

Being a philosophy major I honestly couldn't pick one or two. Out of this time I spent in college as well as High school the latter portion I can say that there is not just one but quite a few. To add to this even on Second Life I have joined a variety of Philosophical groups which just add more names to the growing fire of thought that lies within' my mind.

Though to say I have grown very fond of Nietzche, Aristotle, and Kant. I would make a noticeable mention section, but that would be far to long.

Originally posted by vicen
I agree entirely about the Platonic ideas, but can't concur with your other point.

Without Plato, - no aristotle, no Plotinus, no Proclus; what would Augustine have been minus the Platonic influence? And regarding Platonism in general, think of hermetic thought, gnosticism, cabalism, Giordano Bruno, the Platonic elements in Aquinas, pseudo-Dionysius, Avicenna, scholasticism, mysticism, Islamic philosophy - these are just off the top off my head, and they are all saturated with Plato.

It's no doubt a cliche, but Plato & Aristotle are the gods of philosophy, & always will be in my view.

I agree Plato is overlooked.

Great tread, S&F!


Buddha, Lao Tzu, Plato (and Socrates), Jesus, John Lennon, Arne Næss, Lord Verulam Bacon, Eckhart Tolle, Jostein Gaarder, Emmanuel Kant, Ken Wilber, Carl Sagan, Gregg Braden, Confucius, Aristotle, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Talib Kweli and Mos Def, are some of my favorites.

I added some names many might not consider to be philosophers, like artists, but I think their thoughts often prove to be just as valuable to the people.


Peace and love!

While I wouldn't say they're the greatest, the ones that interest me the most are the French existentialists, especially Camus. As a psychology major I also find William James to be underrated for his philosophy. In terms of more modern people I find the arguments made by Searle and Chalmers to be fascinating.

reply to post by TheNorthernLight


Good shout with the addition of Confucius & Buddha. Sometimes it seems a much more worthy exercise to read Eastern thought like the Upanishads or the Bhagavad gita than to plough your way through Kant.

As I am currently writing my philosophy paper as a final I thought I would share this with you all.

Early Modern Philosophical Texts

The link in which I placed lists various philosophical texts that are from earlier times as stated. My teacher gave us this link in the beginning of the semester to read some of the texts [rather than having to buy books for which we would probably have only utilized two or three chapters.]. I found the site to be a rather good read and though it doesn't list all of their works it does show a few.

My teacher also scanned PDFs for us and if people would like I could upload it somewhere and paste the link afterwords. I have to go through the texts again anyway for this paper so it would be no trouble. Currently about to go to the store for groceries, but if anyone is interested like stated above I can list the philosophers in which we are and were studying. If still interested then I'll post it...somewhere.

reply to post by vicen


Meister Eckhart is for sure common sense voice - also my favorite. Now my language capabilities are good enough to reed st. Thomas or Eckhart. No, I do not understand Latin, but I understand English ... and I can compare different translations. Often English translation is better then Czech. Sometimes not. We are 10 million language spit on World face but our parents and grandparents did a good job. As everywhere at Europe first national masterpiece was translation of Bible. Bible Kralická was one of first critical/modern translations of Bible. We are at dissent from 15. century. Against Rome, against bad landlords, against Hapsburgs occupants of Czech Crone, against greedy capitalists, against stupid Bolsheviks, against greedy capitalists again ... We are the people. Once again sorry - now I'm drunken.

Originally posted by zeddissad
reply to post by vicen

 

Meister Eckhart is for sure common sense voice - also my favorite. Now my language capabilities are good enough to reed st. Thomas or Eckhart. No, I do not understand Latin, but I understand English ... and I can compare different translations. Often English translation is better then Czech. Sometimes not. We are 10 million language spit on World face but our parents and grandparents did a good job. As everywhere at Europe first national masterpiece was translation of Bible. Bible Kralická was one of first critical/modern translations of Bible. We are at dissent from 15. century. Against Rome, against bad landlords, against Hapsburgs occupants of Czech Crone, against greedy capitalists, against stupid Bolsheviks, against greedy capitalists again ... We are the people. Once again sorry - now I'm drunken.

lol long live the Czech beer. Pravda vítězí.

Socrates in my opinion should be at the very least the foundation for any philosopher. Specifically, his thoughts on knowledge. It's not so much whether it's right or wrong, but from applying his own maxim to my own thought process I've found my ideas becoming more and more articulate, solid, and insightful. It's hard at first but once you have a methodology down, it's incredibly beneficial.

Buddha, without question, was a genius. When you study Buddha's original teachings, you realize just how thorough and nuance heavy his philosophical ideas are. They are amazing, and incredibly insightful on their own.

Terence McKenna, to me, is sort of an idle. Look up his books and find his speeches because this man was an absolute genius and incredibly unique in my opinion.


Those are the only three I will say are the greatest in my mind, and that is my mind alone. It's really hard to argue which philosopher was "better" or "worst". For some, Nietzsche is incredible. But at the same time, he goes all over the damn place with his thoughts, so much so that Socrates would have smacked him and told him to make up his mind; and that is saying something.

Frankly, while I disagree with plenty, there is a good chance that if you're a philosopher, you're a genius in your own right. Being a philosopher requires a specific sort of mentality and intellect that can't be taught, because you can't teach someone to think abstractly. It's a specific skill that can either be acquired through esoteric searching, or it's simply something you're sort of born with.


Also, who ever mentioned Bruce Lee; nice. People DO overlook Lee because he's seen as a movie star and a badass. He was incredibly intelligent and frankly is one of the last kung fu artists popularly known that understood that martial arts aren't just a way to hone to body, but the mind and soul as well. Remember, Shaolin Temple is a Buddhist monastery of the Zen branch. Yeah, they do some crazy stuff and could kick your ass most likely, but the purpose of their training is not to become ass kickers, it is to become enlightened. Most martial arts from China were developed as forms of Zen meditation and each school had it's own philosophy.

[edit on 25-4-2010 by SpectreDC]

Originally posted by colloredbrothers
Terence Mckenna and me.

terence mckenna and we can rock paper scissors to see who goes next

reply to post by OrionTri


Bruce Lee is good, "Be like water," I remember reading his book "Striking Wisdom." I like Taoism a lot too. What's neat is he wrote that book while he had a broken leg. It was just a good use of his time.

Ken Wilber is probably my favorite one. Surprised nobody has mentioned him.

Krishnamurti is wonderful. It's amazing how he applies his principles in his book "Commentaries on Living." By applies, I mean people come to him with problems that are insideous and deep and his principles make sense in every different scenario.

Alan Watts had interesting philosophy of his own. Though it was rooted in Zen Buddhism, it sort of is his own. Well nobody else says or said what he said, or the way he did.


[edit on 25-4-2010 by Novise]

Originally posted by SpectreDC
Socrates in my opinion should be at the very least the foundation for any philosopher.

Agreed! My father always taught me about Socrates when I was growing up, and Socrates plays quite a large part in the Norwegian education system.

Buddha, without question, was a genius. When you study Buddha's original teachings, you realize just how thorough and nuance heavy his philosophical ideas are. They are amazing, and incredibly insightful on their own.

Totally. My life has completely changed for the better after I first understood some of Buddha's original teachings. Have you ever noticed the similarities between Buddha and Jesus? Eckhart Tolle has pointed out these in a very clarifying way. Intriguing, at least.

Terence McKenna, to me, is sort of an idle. Look up his books and find his speeches because this man was an absolute genius and incredibly unique in my opinion.

Will do

Frankly, while I disagree with plenty, there is a good chance that if you're a philosopher, you're a genius in your own right.

And we are lucky to live in times when so many of these teachings are available to us. And to have forums like ATS where we can share our own thoughts and feelings about them.

Also, who ever mentioned Bruce Lee; nice. People DO overlook Lee because he's seen as a movie star and a badass. He was incredibly intelligent and frankly is one of the last kung fu artists popularly known that understood that martial arts aren't just a way to hone to body, but the mind and soul as well. Remember, Shaolin Temple is a Buddhist monastery of the Zen branch. Yeah, they do some crazy stuff and could kick your ass most likely, but the purpose of their training is not to become ass kickers, it is to become enlightened. Most martial arts from China were developed as forms of Zen meditation and each school had it's own philosophy.

Two thumbs up I had almost forgotten about that side of Bruce Lee, which I actually consider the most important side of the great champion. Looking forward to reading his books.

Thanks for all the great tips, SpectreDC, and everybody else




[edit on 25-4-2010 by TheNorthernLight]

Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself -- and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty.



Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekht has spoken

for his people.

- Chief Joseph The Nez Perce tribe

"I think over again my small adventures
My fears, those small ones that seemed so big
For all the vital things I had to get and reach
And yet there is only one great thing
The only thing
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world."


- Unknown Inuit

"The land is sacred. These words are at the core of your being. The land is our mother, the rivers our blood. Take our land away and we die. That is, the Indian in us dies." - Mary Brave Bird

"We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit." - Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker

The time will soon be here when my grandchild will long for the cry of a loon, the flash of a salmon, the whisper of spruce needles, or the screech of an eagle. But he will not make friends with any of these creatures and when his heart aches with longing he will curse me. Have I done all to keep the air fresh? Have I cared enough about the water? Have I left the eagle to soar in freedom? Have I done everything I could to earn my grandchild’s fondness?
- Chief Dan George

that's my list...

reply to post by DaddyBare


"We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit." - Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker

What is it about the chickadee that would make him say that? Just curious. I really liked those quotes, thanks.

Emerson, Plato not Aristotle, Albert Camus, and Emmanuel Swedenborg most recommended here

i dont think anybody has mentioned diogenes yet. he was a great andd revolutionary philosopher, and i think he had many original ideas and his work and ideas regularly influence our lives, yet he rarely is mentioned.

I think he probably would have favored it this way though

Greatest Philosophers in your mind[?]

I tend to prefer the math perspective, but that's just because of my background.

1. Jean-Paul Sartre
   
2. Pythagoras
   
3. Georg Cantor
   
4. Plato
   
5. Aristotle
   
6. Kant
   
7. Kurt Gödel
   
8. Bertrand Russell
   
9. Husserl
   
10. Hegel
    
11. Heidegger
    
12. Aquinas

Just couldn't keep it to 10.

How have your greatest influenced you.

I give Sartre the top position because it's largely through his thoughts that I established the foundation for my personal philosophy.

[edit on 26-4-2010 by Xtraeme]