Your favorite philosopher

[Marcus Scaurus]

Mine is Epikourus (lat: Epicurus). He's the guy who critized the people who said that the Gods were omnipotent.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Plato and Socrates come to mind..

[Ghoulem]

I like Søren Kirkegaard. Why? Because.

[Siblesz]

I like Kierkegaard too. And Unamuno as well. Dostoevsky is brilliant... And Marcus Aurelius is always a good read. Hmmmm... it's tough to decide between all of them, though. Each of them gave me a gram of gold to keep.

Ohh... lest we forget Voltaire. :original: The first philosopher who I studied.

[Bwaho]

I really enjoy philosophy but I haven't read that much yet


The little I read from nietzsche I thought was fascinating so I want to read more of his work.

Maybe I should read the classics first, Aristotle and Plato?

[Fenris]

Nietzsche. His philosophy is exhaltating, and most interesting. I think he has the most complete philosophy and that no other philosopher has gone to his level. There's also the way he wrote it all, which is some awesome litterature, not some boring bureaucrat-like writing.

[Denny Crane!]

Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche

He is the philosopher which comes closest to the realities of human existence, that distilled the human personality down to a T.

What she has done for me . . . would make me her slave for ever if
the singular lights of her mind and her superiority over all other
women in this domain had not already bound me in chains . . . .
[She is a woman] in whose company I learn new things every day,
and to whom I owe everything.
Voltaire

Voltaire for sheer turn of phrase

Peter

[Fenris]

What she has done for me . . . would make me her slave for ever if
the singular lights of her mind and her superiority over all other
women in this domain had not already bound me in chains . . . .
[She is a woman] in whose company I learn new things every day,
and to whom I owe everything.
Voltaire

Voltaire for sheer turn of phrase

Peter

Yes I like him more for his litterature than the actual philosophy, Voltaire is awesome.

[Shadows]

Voltaire. Why? he was a free speech advocate, need I say more. Anyway, more about him here. He did too much to simply state some facts. I suggest reading hs most famous qoutes at the bottom, very interesting stuff, he was IMO a very intelligent, yet witty man.

[IamthePope]

wow, tough question. I dont think I have a favorite but there are a few that come to mind. In chronological order:
Socrates
Zeno of Apathea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_of_Citium)
St. Augustine
St. Thomas Aquinas
Rene Descates
Thomas Bacon
Niccolo Machievelli
Friedrich Nietzsche

[Shadows]

Socrates
Zeno of Apathea
St. Augustine
St. Thomas Aquinas
Rene Descates
Thomas Bacon
Niccolo Machievelli
Friedrich Nietzsche

Ohh, how did I forget to mention Machievelli??
"The ends justify the means" and more here

Edit: 500 posts now

[Fenris]

I think Descartes started with a good idea, but he ****ed up in the middle.

[Ulf]

I think i'm gonna have to agree with RB here and say Epicurus.

"Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure."

[Husserl]

i love Kierkegaard, too, for his THAT INDIVIDUAL thought.
well, i also like Nietzsche, L.Wittgenstain,Husserl, Heidgger. :original:

[scottishranger]

Zeno of Citium. He was born in Cytium, Cyrprus. Founded the Stoic Philosphy which teaches that by mastering your emotions and suppresing the emotions of hate, sorrow, lust and passion, you can can acheive inner peace with yourself. Stoicism also had a great influece on the Romans and Christianity philosphy. I have been trying to follow this philosphy for some years now and I have gotten a lot less emotional a have gained the ability to stay calm under pressure.

The thing I don't like about him is his views on goverment(or lack of it), he was a prolific anarchist and did not believe men needed to be governed. I belive in a strong goverment but a decent amount of power to the people, for without goverment many of the treasures whe have today we be lost.

courtesy of Wikipedia
Zeno preached that man conquers the world by conquering himself. By developing an indifference to pain and pleasure through meditation, the practicing stoic will develop a wisdom, stemming from having control over the passions. He lectured his students on the value of apatheia, which he explained to be the absence of passion. Only by taking an attitude of controlling one's emotion and physical desire, he felt, could we develop wisdom and the ability to apply it.

This teaching is a great one in theory but not without its downplays, because it teaches to suppress passion(which includes love) you can argue that it deprives you of your soul. (if tou believe you have one)

Oh and here is my favorite quote of Zeno's, "We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say."

Here is what wikipedia has to say on Stoicism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism and Zeno of Citium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_of_Citium

[Tostig]

Locke & Hume - They make sense most of the time, as well as having theories I can appreciate.
Voltaire - As a figure as much as a philosopher, as well as his superiority to Rousseau
Nietzsche - The man had balls!
A. J. Ayer - His work is all right, and he seems like a genuinely nice chap.

On the other hand I dislike:
Kant - It was going so well until radical evil? Besides, claiming your theory is perfect is never good.
Descartes - You were so ahead of your time, but fell down around the 5/6th meditation with Clear and Distinct Perceptions.
Plato - The quote in my sig says it all

[Jesus The Inane]

Voltaire is a good writer, but his philosophy doesn't impress me that much. My favorite philosopher is Plato though. And I find his books interesting and fun to read, unlike Kant or Nietzche.

[Husserl]

Locke & Hume - They make sense most of the time, as well as having theories I can appreciate.

Really Hume is great.
in fact, the first real Philosophy book i have read is Hume's.
in some sense, i believe Hume have changed and recreated my thinking style.

[Pertinax]

Plato, Socrates, Aristoteles, Cicero... Marx and Gentile.

[MoROmeTe]

Martin Heidegger... almost impossible to fully understand, a pain to criticise and a world of hurt to explain to someone else. A philosopher's philosopher, the ultimate say on existence and man...