Who is the greatest philosopher of all time?

I vote for trollometer.

Martin Heidegger; however, he isn't technically a philosopher.

Descartes

Me

OMG... Heidegger has to be the WORST. I have NEVER read worse writing than his...

It all depends on how you define "greatest." My favorite is probably Kierkegaard, or maybe Hume, but to say he is more important than Plato or Aristotle is to reveal great ignorance.

Descartes is perhaps the most important philosopher after the Greeks, but I think he is less relevant now than many.

If I have to pick someone, I guess I will go with Hume. He posed questions that still have not been answered, and there is astonishing consistency in his views. He was also a fantastic writer - concise, clear, and even entertaining. He is kind of like the Michael Jordan of philosophy - there have been those who won more championships and were more influential (Bill Russell/Plato), those who scored more points (Wilt/Descartes), etc., but when you factor it all in, it's hard to beat Hume.

nice analogy, heh

socrates, without him, there would be no critical thinking.

Malthus or Ricardo

Templar21 wrote:

socrates, without him, there would be no critical thinking.

So you really don't think that any human being would have ever questioned anything if not for Socrates' example?

jean paul-sartre

Kant

he codified the basics of epistemology, which gave rise to most of the basic discourse of the next 200 years - Husserl, Heidegger, Wittgenstein. If you read the CoPR, then The Tractatus, you'll see.

Its interesting stuff upon which to reflect, especially +20yrs after you've read it.

Off the Grid wrote:

Kant

he codified the basics of epistemology, which gave rise to most of the basic discourse of the next 200 years - Husserl, Heidegger, Wittgenstein. If you read the CoPR, then The Tractatus, you'll see.

Its interesting stuff upon which to reflect, especially +20yrs after you've read it.

Far from being the greatest philosopher, Kant is the most evil man who ever lived. His mindless epistemology gave rise to the age of ruthless stupidity that we now live in.

Hefner, Hugh

Philosophers build off of each other's influence. There is no "best."

Who made the biggest steps? I'd go with either Plato or Nietzsche. One for literally inventing it and the other for turning it on its head.

gig wrote:

Far from being the greatest philosopher, Kant is the most evil man who ever lived. His mindless epistemology gave rise to the age of ruthless stupidity that we now live in.

....wow....

Off the Grid wrote:

gig wrote:

Far from being the greatest philosopher, Kant is the most evil man who ever lived. His mindless epistemology gave rise to the age of ruthless stupidity that we now live in.

....wow....

Don't worry, it's an Ayn Rand joke.

...ok...I'll try not to worry...about a joke...about a woman whose only claim to fame was being banged by Alan Greenspan...

Immanual Kant was a real pissant

Okay man, didn't mean to upset you. I was just pointing out that you'd missed the sarcasm in the earlier post. I don't even know what the point of what you just wrote is. Although I will say this, that is one ugly pairing. Have a great day.