Well, among the theistic side, I choose Pascal, Kierkegaard, St. Augustine. Among the atheistic side, I choose Camus, J. P. Sartre, and Nietzsche. I like Pascal's pensees and Kierkegaard's fear and trembling, and St. Augustine's the city of God I like Camus' the myth of Sisyphus, Sartre's being and nothingness, and Nietzsche's human, all too human as well as thus spoke Zarathustra.... What about yours? I am betting most of you would put down Greek philosophers such as Plato or Socrates.
Does Jesus count? Or is he just a tool? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I like Lao Tzu. He is funny. I'm reading off and on the Te-Tao Ching. I also enjoy Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince", though the man isn't really one of the most renown philosophers. Anaximander is funky, I enjoy immensely how confusing his Boundless theory is. And though he is not a philosopher (why I am putting it here doesn't make any sense, lol), Pericles was very interesting when I read his funeral oration. btw, how does one pronounce Nietzsche? Is it Knee-chee? or like Niche? People to choose from in case you are stuck: Francis Bacon George Berkeley Nicolas Copernicus Rene Descartes Galileo Galilei Thomas Hobbes David Hume Immanuel Kant Gottfried Leibniz John Locke Niccolò Machiavelli Nicolas Malebranche Thomas Robert Malthus John Stuart Mill Blaise Pascal Thomas Reid Jean Jacques Rousseau Benedict de Spinoza Voltaire etc. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Excellent choices. Yes, Nietzsche is pronounced like Knee che like the last syllable in Don Quixote. Anyway, I wouldn't necessarily consider Galilei or Copernicus a philosopher. I mean, they were scientists and those kinds of categories deal with quite different matters. Have you read any of these? The ones I haven't read are Malebranche, Malthus, Reid, Berkeley, and Voltaire, although I am at least, vaguely aquainted with their principal ideas.
Voltaire(I would make love to him) Socrates (of course) Schophenhauer(when I want to kill myself) Nietzsche(I killed God) Kierkegaard(3 stages of existence) Rowen
I'll make my list short: Descartes Camus Kant Socrates Hume I hate to admit it but I still haven't read any Nietzsche Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I can't remember the names of the philosophers and their respective thoughts etc which is kind of disappointing. me either but his Geneology of Morality has influenced me probably more ethna any other writing: I have had it explained to me. I did try to read it but it's very hard!
Nietzsche Nietzsche is my favorite. Its cool how he went insane when he got older, adds to his power. Did he come up with something that blew his mind, or was it syphilis or Alzheimer's etc. I read Thus Spake Zarathustra almost in one session.
my fav is... Well. I find it hard to have a favorite or even many. They all can be pretty dull when you think about it. Reading philosophy is not exactly going to Daytona on Spring Break. Still, I don't know why I love it so much. I guess I like most philosophers that don't necessarily have to conform to everyone of societies dictates. Plato is perhaps the best example of this. He bascially says screw everything, lets do this, in the Republic, however unpractical his ideas might be in reality. I also like Sartre because he is a complete nut and I think that may have partially come from his stymied vision. I like Nietzsche too, and I am fully convinced that he was bipolar and that basically ruined his chance for happiness or for a regular life, if it wasn't just because he had a great mind which tends to fuck things up anyway. Kierkegaard is also fun too read and far out there from the view of public opinion. I think they are all good, in the words the alternative singer of Polly Jean Harvey in her song "Good Fortune", "Everyone has something good to say".
oh, fun question. Ayn Rand= my most favorite. i haven't read anything i disagree with by her yet. (some things i initially disagreed with, but she won me over) Aristotle= genius, i always learn something when i read him. there's a lot i disagree with, but he's the original! Kant= maybe the worst, evilest philosopher ever. but still interesting to read, he did contribute a lot of valid ideas even if he also contributed to the demise of the Enlightenment. : ) mostly it's fun just to see how long and complicated someone can possibly make a single sentence be. Kierkegaard= i like something about his aesthetic, not sure what exactly. i like that he tried to live his philosophy. i think he contributed a lot to psychology as well. most of his stuff is kind of tragic and unfortunate though. All Enlightenment philosophers: Locke, Newton, all the founding fathers. It's like waking up from a nightmare and realizing that it actually is possible for people really to want to live, and to acheive what they set out to do. These days it seems like you can't mention the Law of Gravity without someone exploding into a rage about slavery, sexism, and mistreatment of American Indians. Weird. Marx= Just kidding. I don't like Marx Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Oooooo there are so many! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Let's see.... I love Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkely and Hume. In general, they ROCK. And then I like Wittgenstein, Schopenhauer, Camus, Sartre, Russell, Neitzsche.... And from the 20th Century, my favorite is Carnap Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Adam
