'top Ten Philosophers'-horible List

[Didymos Thomas]

But Socrates was not an artist or novelist. He was someone who sought wisdom. I think what separates Socrates from the artists and novelists you mention is methodology. Maybe he was blessed by being so early in our history that he could give us the Socratic method, but none the less, he did. He also fanned the flame, we could say, of Athenian philosophy, beginning the heritage that spawned of course Plato and Aristotle, but really, almost every scrap of western philosophy until Descartes.

But you're right, I wouldn't call him a professional philosopher. Plato and Aristotle founded schools to teach their philosophy and other related subjects.

[as0l0]

excuse my ignorance, I'm new to philosophy...

Nobody think Heidegger is all that important? I ask, because I'm currently immersed in his thinking. His thoughts seem crucially important to me.

[midas77]

I think we should first list some criteria what makes a philosopher great.

1. INSIGHT = The philosopher must have a clear view of reality. Not some deform view like Descartes (so my bet is he must be out).

2. Comprehensiveness = allows a non-limiting view of reality.

here is just two, its debatable I know. But at least its a starting point

[Didymos Thomas]

But who is to say what insight is best, or deepest? Some have thought Descartes to be some sort of messiah.

While I'm tempted to embrace the second criteria, I also worry that this might be just a matter of perspective bias.

While the list provided seems erroneous, I doubt that any satisfying list can be produced.

[GoshisDead]

First we should note the source of the list (askmen.com)? So its a given that the more controversial Philosophers are on there.... Nietzsche, Machiavelli. This would also exclude people like Kant and one of my personal favorites, Hume. Their arguments are too abstract for the practicality desired by most readers of askmen.com. Second it seems that whoever made this list was using a political filter. "Who was most obviously important on shaping the world economy and molding the base for what would later become the world's super powers?" It's not a bad list in any sense as it would be entirely too difficult to pick ten influential philosophers without using some criteria about what they influenced. Maybe some good lists could be made in the philosopher section could have specifically defined criteria.

[Khethil]

What struck me the most about this list was: Of the quotes whose works I've read completely, they referred to a specific condition, place, time or set of circumstances. If this be the case, perhaps they should have been stated as such by the original authors.

But any written work (to include the bulk of our pontificating here on the Forum) can have single statements extracted that'll sound sweeping and silly on their own.

[midas77]

Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas

But who is to say what insight is best, or deepest? Some have thought Descartes to be some sort of messiah.

While I'm tempted to embrace the second criteria, I also worry that this might be just a matter of perspective bias.

While the list provided seems erroneous, I doubt that any satisfying list can be produced.

Exactly my point Thomas, All list shall be biased and therefore can never be satisfactory.

[Aedes]

Originally Posted by Mephistopheles

The OP sounds like some moron who believes the Nazi perversion of Nietzsche is the correct one... Sorry to be harsh but I definitely will defend Nietzsche from unwarranted attacks. ^_^

Having a portrait of Hitler in your photo gallery here doesn't exactly help your argument.

Nietzsche was certainly misappropriated by people including the Nazis (but also including his own sister) who spun his work into an antisemitic agenda. Nietzsche certainly does not deserve the blame for things that happened afterwards in Germany, the currents of which were already moving swiftly during the late 19th century. No more so than Marx deserves blame for the Gulags.

But let's not give him too much credit. He was a vicious misogynist, he was brash and arrogant, and he left enough ambiguity about his moral Ubermensch and enough specificity about his untermenschen that he was easily incorporated into Naziism.

[Theaetetus]

That list is terrible. To only place Plato on it as honorable mention is ludicrous. I forgot who said it, but someone once said "All Western philosophy is footnotes to Plato. Not to mention, the criteria for rating what philosophy is good or not is wide open to interpretation. Most of the time, people use philosophy towards unjustified ends. Does that make the philosopher a "bad" philosopher or the interpreter a bull****ter or ignorant fool?

[Holiday20310401]

Is Demosthenes a philosopher? or am I thinking of something completely different? And what about Asimov, you could sort of define him as a philosopher.
Who's work should I read that would have the most influence on a high school student, besides aristotle?