NationStates Jolt Archive

Everyone thinks different, that's why I didn't add a poll, because the options wouldn't fit the entire page, so now I ask you, who do think was the best thinker of all times?

In my case I think it was Aleister Crowley, if you read carefully his biography you will find that he wasn't a bad man, he enjoyed the reputation but never did acts of great evil.

William S. Burroughs.

I base my whole life on his teachings.

Or maybe I don't.

Kant was very good. And Foucault.

c'mon people put your answers!!!

And Foucault.SO sick of hearing about him over the course of the last 12 weeks! But there's no denying that he had some extremely interesting ideas.

My background is in criminology, so many of the philosophical works I've read relate to that. I think that Durkheim, Becker and Merton were great thinkers in the area, even if I don't agree with them 100%. Anthony Burgess, although a novelist, provided one of the greatest critiques of 20th century criminological behavourism in his classic A Clockwork Orange, making him a great thinker for me personally, even if he couldn't be considered a philosopher by wider society.

Less related to the area, although I fundamentally disagree with the works of people like Marx and Engels, I do accept that they were great political philosophers. As was one of my favourites, good old Machiavelli. Even wider still, I respect the ideas (and their willingness to speak publicly of them in the face of adversity) of scientific philosophers such as Galileo.

*bump*

Aristotle

... who do think was the best thinker of all times?
I would have to go with Socrates, Newton, or Einstein. Each of them generated a revolution in the thinking current in their time.

I would have to go with Socrates, Newton, or Einstein. Each of them generated a revolution in the thinking current in their time.*beats self violently about the head*

How could I forget those guys, especially Einstein?!

Everyone thinks different, that's why I didn't add a poll, because the options wouldn't fit the entire page, so now I ask you, who do think was the best thinker of all times?

.

Why, myself, of course! :p

It must be a tie between Stalin and Kane.

Karl Marx.

Ayn Rand

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin
Seconded.

For most overrated thinker (okay, so you didn't ask), I'd go for Plato.

Frederich Nietzche, Aristotle, and Julius Evola.

Ludwig von Mises

I am really not sure. Though I don't agree with much of what he says, I would say that Nietzsche is probably one of the best. Karl Marx is also a possible one.

I am really not sure. Though I don't agree with much of what he says, I would say that Nietzsche is probably one of the best. Karl Marx is also a possible one.

I would have thought you'd pick Emma Goldman.

I would have thought you'd pick Emma Goldman.

Well, she was great and all, but Nietzsche and Marx were much more comprehensive and detailed while Goldman was mainly just political.

Leo Trotsky, John Lennon, Malcolm X, Jesus, and Ken Kesey.

Philosopher Poets every one.

Him.

http://www.poster.de/Rodin-Auguste/Rodin-Auguste-Der-Denker-5700247.html

Of all time, probably either Newton or Darwin.

I always liked Democritus though, and Epicurus. It's a pity religious people had to keep burning the damn library down. Maybe they'd rank higher otherwise.

(And don't even get me started on the missing 100+ sophocles plays).

Winnie the Pooh

Ludwig von Mises
Wow! Haven't heard that name in awhile! Kewl! :D

I'm going to have to go with Aristotle. He didn't get everyting right, but taking into account the period in which he lived, his observations about life and its nature are stunningly accurate, for the most part.

I always liked Democritus though, and Epicurus. It's a pity religious people had to keep burning the damn library down. Maybe they'd rank higher otherwise.
From http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/articles/ArticleView.cfm?AID=9

"So who did burn the Library of Alexandria? Unfortunately most of the writers from Plutarch (who apparently blamed Caesar) to Edward Gibbons (a staunch atheist or deist who liked very much to blame Christians and blamed Theophilus) to Bishop Gregory (who was particularly anti-Moslem, blamed Omar) all had an axe to grind and consequently must be seen as biased. Probably everyone mentioned above had some hand in destroying some part of the Library's holdings. The collection may have ebbed and flowed as some documents were destroyed and others were added. For instance, Mark Antony was supposed to have given Cleopatra over 200,000 scrolls for the Library long after Julius Caesar is accused of burning it."

Noam Chomsky, he is essentially right in his political criticisms. Also revolutionized linguistics.

Roland Barthes, again his book mythologies was quite revalatory, for me, anyway in the arguments it put forth.

Descartes- I think therefore I am, beautifully simple piece of logic at work there.

Jurgen Habermas- came up with the public sphere theory.

Hannah Arendt- ethical theories etc.

Aquinas- a medieval philosophy god.

Sartre- existentialism, satrean freedom and choice etc.

Ian Curtis- prophet of urban decay and doom

Thom Yorke- much the same except imo better

Gandhi-should not have been assassinated, a national hero imo, although I disagree with his localist traditionalism.

Fredric Jameson- fairly valid theories on postmodernism, excluding the fact that his arguments are essentially predicated on effects theory research.

Marx- marxism, end of line.

Scientists- einstein, maxwell, hawking, newton and so on.

I would have to go with Socrates, Newton, or Einstein. Each of them generated a revolution in the thinking current in their time.
And much of Newtons writings were never published or shared in his time. He was not only a physicist and mathmitician, but a theologist. Most of his theological writing he kept hidden, because they were heresay. He did not belive in the trinity but in three seprate and distinct beings (Learned all of this on a fascinating documentry over the break. I think it was PBS/Nova, but don't quote me)

Marx- marxism, end of line.

"I am not a Marxist"
-Karl Marx

He disaproved, or at least didn't agree with, of the direction the "marxists" took many of his ideas.[/random menutia]

First instinct is toward Nietzche, and that is where I'm going to stay. So I guess I really didn't need to say that was my first instinct, but I know that I am too lazy to change it. And now I am just wasting everyone's time. Phantasmagoric.

Nietzsche, Plato, Aristotle, Da Vinci, Darwin


would like to thank the people who cheered me up by saying Karl Marx

havent laughed so hard for years

naz'drave

Noam Chomsky, he is essentially right in his political criticisms. Also revolutionized linguistics.

Ahhh, the Pol Pot apologist.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Aristotle, Michaelangelo (sp), Darwin, Einstein.

Karl Marx.

Quoted for truth.

I like LaRochefoucauld

and Thomas Aquinas

I'd have to choose Clausewitz. Genius is 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration. He wrote out a whole philosophical theory of war in several hefty volumes, realised his conclusions didn't entirely add up so he went all the way back to the beginning for a rewrite. Only managed book one, sadly, before passing away, but book one is still recognised as possessing one of the most lucid and elegant theories on the phenomenon of war.

I would have picked Ludendorff - I am a totalitarian - but while the man was edging on the verge of an excellent idea he was quite catastrophically mad.

I'd have to say Socrates. All Western thought owes its existence to him. Sigmund Freud was another biggie for his sheer intellect. To this day, he is the only person known to have actually psychoanalysed himself.

Newton, Locke, Voltaire, Marx, Aristole.

Really difficult to choose between them. Overall, probably Aristotle was the most influential and had such ground breaking theories.

Everyone thinks different, that's why I didn't add a poll, because the options wouldn't fit the entire page, so now I ask you, who do think was the best thinker of all times?

In my case I think it was Aleister Crowley, if you read carefully his biography you will find that he wasn't a bad man, he enjoyed the reputation but never did acts of great evil.


That depends on what you consider "great acts" of evil.

Its rumored he engaged in acts of cannibalism, but this was never proven conclusively.

What was conclusive, is that he was an asshole, a junkie, and died of syphallis.

Oh, and he also pretended to use "black magic", wich is even sillier than being a christian.

machiavelli