Who's your favorite Pholosopher & why?

Question

Can be modern or ancient.

Answer 1

Erasmus, if he counts.

Oh, he does count.

Answer 2

To me, most philosophers get tied up in word games that have little to say about everyday life. Present day university professor philosophers are the worst, I think, because they will write on and on about some tiny change they think they've contributed, while wile endlessly picking apart what some other professors philosopher have suggested. Well, they make a living doing this I guess.
To get to your question though, I like philosophers that talk like ordinary people. The French philosopher Henri Bergson-19th -20th century- is one I've liked a lot, but my favorite is Montaigne- another frenchman -15th-. 16th century (?)- He just says whaterever happens to be on his mind, and it works because he has (had) a very interesting mind. He surprises us by looking at something ordinary in a unique way. No pretense , and doesn't take himself seriously. Well, now that I've said that, I also have to mention the ancient Chinese philosopher known as Chuang Tzu. Very deep but fascinating. So maybe I don't really have a favorite after all!

Answer 3

My favorite philosopher is Aristotle. His ancient teachings, have continued from the Greeks to the Romans and even many of the modern day societies and his famous quote 'The gods too are fond of a joke.'

Answer 4

I'll take the modern please. It is without a doubt Bugs Bunny! He won an award too, an Oscar no less. I don't recall any other philosophers getting an Oscar. Well maybe that Richard Geer fellow, but I'm not sure about that. Regardless, I like old Bugs spin on life, I apply that to my daily living. Hell on this medium I'm being represented by a cartoon, so how far wrong can I be? LOL, philosophizing; life is just grand! Who new it could be this great. Bugs did, thanks old Rabbit!

Answer 5

Protagoras. I'm not sure if I would call him my favorite, but he's certainly fascinating because of the fact that he was one of only a handful of Greek sophists for whom even Socrates and Plato had any respect. It can be argued that he was an early "post-modernist" because of his relativist views on reality. "Man is the measure of all things". "There are two sides to every question."

From "modern" philosophers, I think I'd go with Nietzsche because he's probably one of the most misunderstood philosophers of the last 200 years. I love when evangelicals throw a tantrum when someone quotes his famous "God is dead!" or "Is man only a blunder of God, or God only a blunder of man?". He's also the daddy of "modern" post-modernism.

Answer 6

Albert Camus -- He lacks the pretentiousness one finds in other philosophers. While Camus wrote several excellent philosophical essays, he also displayed the practicality of his philosophy in his profound literature. His novel "The Plague" shows a doctor's struggle against an outbreak of plague. Camus implies that the struggle is absurd, yet refuses to call it hopeless. The novel shows that there is heroism and nobility in battling an invincible enemy because while reason says the battle should be abandoned, a conscious and free mind that chooses to battle has made the choice not to give up. In other words, there is victory just in choosing to continue the struggle because it shows that the mind has not been defeated.

Runner up: Jeff Lebowski -- "The Dude abides."

Answer 7

I love Socrates, Plato and Aristotle for setting the groundwork. Especially re: the evolution of government because it seems to hold true and the Philosopher KIngs but there is too much greed in today's society for that to ever work. Descarte statement "I think therefore I am" always reminds me of the beginning of the Bible "first there was the word and the word was I AM and I especially lean toward the existential philosophies such as Sartre, but I wouldn't want to label myself (ha! ha!)

Answer 8

Levinas, Edith Stein and Karol Wojtyla. Although they are all considered post modern philosophers, their phenomenological approach to the study of the human person which is widely discussed by some modern philosophers, offers an excellent way of understanding the nature of humans, their dignity and how they should be treated. Levinas provided for an ethics of the face. The face, he says, is a revelation of what the "other" is. The other reveals itself to us as an object to be perceived and it should be defined not according to our terms but according to what it reveals to us. Levinas provides for us an ethics that promotes respect for differences, though it could be problematic at times.

Edith Stein was a feminist philosopher who promoted the well-being of women and of their vocation. She encouraged women of their great magisterial task of educating others.

Karol Wojtyla was a polish philosopher who promoted and defended human life from its conception till death. He not only provided for a philosophy of the human person but also gave witness to it with the quality of life that he lived.

Answer 9

Favorite Philosopher: Aristotle
"Spoken words are symbols of affections in the soul, and written letters are symbols of spoken words. And just as written letters are not the same for all humankind, neither are spoken words. But what these are in the first place signs of-the affections of the soul-are the same for all, and what these affections are likenesses of-actual things-are also the same."

Answer 10

Kurt Godel.[1]
The man finally prove that arithmetic is inconsistent. And that ANY system strong enough to have natural Numbers will be inconsistent as well![2]
This is one of the biggest breakthrough in philosophy it finally prove that math is not a "perfect" thing it is supposed to be!
The man is a legend.

Answer 11

well I think mine is an scientist Pavlov he said if you put an group of mammals in a crowded place they will become vicious and cannibalistic
this experiment was done in America many times over in the projects . also martin Luther King Jr well you know about him and Gandhi they al worked to improve life