Your Favorite Philosopher

[AtrocityVoyeur]

Jonathan Haidt (debatable as to whether it's philosophy, but I consider moral foundations theory to be truly a game-changer

Agreed. It's a massive game-changer. What keeps Haidt out of the spotlight is his modesty... the revolutionary nature of his approach to emotions and morality, even the way people explain things to one another, could potentially put him in Jordan Peterson territory of influence but he lacks the ego to present himself that way. Having said that he gets very deep in his books and I am sure there are people who are moved to reconsider their basic premises by reading him. But he isn't going to pick up a cult of Messiah worshippers.

 

[Peace and Harmony]

Jon Haidt is ma boi. He's also pretty busy running Heterodox Academy and trying to re-institutionalise free speech and general sanity back to the American college campus instead of just bitching about it.

 

[RichardMongler]

Of the Greeks, I gotta say Heraclitus and Plato's work resonated with me the most. Even as a philosophy major, I shamefully admit I haven't studied enough the Hellenistics to have a formal opinion on them.

For English philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are both neck and neck.

Of the Continentals, Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche were my two favorites.

The only Anarchists whose written work I enjoyed are Max Stirner, Albert Camus and Theodore Kaczynski.

Other odd favorites, including writers: Edmund Burke, Robert Nozick, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Oswald Spengler, Ernst Jünger, Gustave Le Bon, H.L. Mencken, Jim Goad

 

[Pozzingmyfilthyneghole]

Joseph Campbell a.k.a Carl Jung without the Teutonic crap. Hollywood copy-pasted his ideas, thus opening up Pandora's box of hack frauds.

 

[DrunkJoe]

Does Kayne count now? He kind of killed the internent last 2 weeks or so with his words of wisdom.

I will go with nietzsche though.

 

[Soew]

strongly recommend Peter Sloterdijk to any of the other Nietzsche fans in this thread. he's the philosopher i've been enjoying the most recently and reading a contemporary philosopher is always a nice change of pace.

 

[Joan Nyan]

I have Michael Knowles's completely blank book Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide on my shelf directly next to Aristotle, Mill, and Kant, and it's certainly my favorite.

 

[MuckFlingingApe]

Peter Sloterdijk is where you end up if you draw a straight line from Nietzsche through Heidegger to the 21stC.

 

[Ruin]

Kant

 

[Sprig of Parsley]

I would say calling Frederic Bastiat a "philosopher" is an insult to Mr. Bastiat, but he certainly had philosophies, so it might count. I think Jon Haidt is criminally underappreciated as one of the few people I've seen who understands that shit is fucked in certain ways right now and really needs to be unfucked.

I can find myself agreeing with things Nietzsche said, and Schopenhauer said things I nominally agree with. I must admit I don't really give the field a whole lot of thought.

 

[Recoil]

Terrence McKenna.

 

[Guts Gets Some]

Derek Savage.













But for real

Spoiler

I was being serious, how dare you think otherwise

 

[PL 001]

Epicurus

 

[Polystyrene Glioblastoma]

Epicurus

 

[Splendid]

Soren Kierkgaard

 

[Gaius Caesar]

Marcus Aurelius and Lao Tzu.

 

[Slap47]

Bit of a newbie when it comes to actual hard philosophy so I'll use a very loose definition.

Sun Tzu - His book is basic but it has lessons that are important. The Art of War is common sense. Only fight battles after you've rigged everything to your advantage and make sure you're fighting an unavoidable battle that will actually contribute to a strategic victory. Even today we're going to war without thinking and not winning.

Confucious - Its odd how Asian civilizations took his lessons and did the exact opposite in his name... Flexibility? Nah. Meritocracy? What?

Christopher Hitchens - I disagreed with him alot but he actively pursued the truth and was smart as a whip.

Locke - The writer that defined the 18th and 19th centuries.

General Patton

Dick Masterson

Unironically this.

 

[The Great Chandler]

Pretty much any philosopher who don't overcomplicate their views nor try to depress you (I'm looking at you Schopenhauer) and especially don't treat their works like dogma.

Just simple, chill, and honest. Only a handful of philosophers get this right (or close to it).

 

[Mayor Adam West]

Might've posted this already but St. Thomas Aquinas.

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Mike Tyson

“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.”

“I wish one of you guys had children, so I could kick them in their fucking head or stomp on their testicles so you could feel my pain, because that’s the pain I have waking up every day.”

“I may like, fornicate more than other people, it’s just who I am. I sacrifice so much of my life, can I at least get laid, you know what I mean? I’ve been robbed of most of my money, can I at least get a blow job?”

“These pigeons have been living with each other for 10 or 15 years, but when I throw feed down, they kill each other to get it..."

If you can't find wisdom in each of these, to be used as guidance in your life, then are you even human?