/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4360302]

Who was the greatest philospher?

[Anonymous No.4360309]

Greatest isn't a measurable attribute.

[Anonymous No.4360315]

Ayn Rand

[Anonymous No.4360321]

>>4360302
Epicurus.

[Anonymous No.4360324]

Aristotle

[Anonymous No.4360327]

>>4360309
>Greatest isn't a measurable attribute.

sure it is, simply quantify it in terms of pages written.

[Anonymous No.4360331]

>>4360302
ancients:
plato
aristotle

medieval:
augustine
aquinas

modern:
kant

[Anonymous No.4360336]

Diogenes

[Anonymous No.4360339]

>>4360324

I took a year long philosophy course that covered one or two books from many of the great philosophers between Plato up through Nietzche. I have to say I dont understand why so many people love Aristotle, he seems practical but when it comes to epistemology I think he's lacking and for me that's really where someone needs to begin.

[Anonymous No.4360344]

>>4360331

Yeah I would have to say Kant was my absolute favorite, then Plato after him. I also liked augustine, we didn't get the chance to cover acquinas because of a cancelled class which is a shame.

We finished with Nietzsche and never covered Wittgenstein. Anybody know the gist of his philosophy? Is it an attack on Kant in the same way Nietzsche wrote? Just curious, eventually going to go back and read everything thoroughly

[Anonymous No.4360357]

Lao-Tse.

[Anonymous No.4360377]

>>4360339

Aristotle is the endgame of philosophy. After you progress through the history and finally comprehend Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger one is compelled to read the Greeks in all of their simplicity. The most Greek of the Greek philosophers is Aristotle specifically because his theory is free from attempts to transcend one's own humanity.

[Anonymous No.4360381]

Plato
Aristotle
Aquinas
Descartes
Kant
Hegel
Marx
Nietzsche
Wittgenstein

[Anonymous No.4360382]

I happen to like Seneca the younger myself. The Stoics aren't that bad of a philosophical school.

[Anonymous No.4360390]

>>4360339
Aristotle gave us the best ethics.

>>4360344
I like to think of Wittgenstein as an analytical Kierkegaard. He's kind of attacking Kant, like Nietzsche did, but mainly he's just a kind of fideist. The most important things in life are beyond rationality and knowledge.

I guess I also take him to be an analytic Heidegger.

[Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ No.4360400]

>>4360321
Truth

[Anonymous No.4360408]

>>4360390
>>4360377

Now I'm really buttmad we never covered Heidegger nor Kierkegaard, nor went into depth on Hegel.

>>4360377

So it seems for the most part, his philosophy is the most practical because it avoids the toughest and most abstract questions?

[Anonymous No.4360410]

>>4360382
Is the apatheia of this post on purpose?

[Anonymous No.4360421]

>Kant
>great
>let me make a bunch of rules nobody will ever follow that I think would lead to a utopian society, but I won't put any thought into what the society would be like or why this is my goal
>rule 1: lying is bad, never lie
>rule 2: hurting others is bad, don't do that
>k we've covered all bad things, let's make some logic loops to explain why they are indeed bad

[Anonymous No.4360423]

>>4360408
> nor went into depth on Hegel

Don't worry about that, if you're gonna like Kierkegaard and Heidegger you won't find much value in Hegel.

Kierkegaard is subtle and ironic. He's got to click for you in a way that you can't really express with words. Wittgenstein said that he Kierkegaard was 2deep4him.

Fear and Trembling and Repetition are good places to start.

[Anonymous No.4360428]

>>4360421

I think Kant simply wanted to prove that logic was still relevant after Hume seemingly put philosophy into crisis by showing us that we can't know anything for certain.

[Anonymous No.4360429]

Epictetus. Hands down. One of the only fuckers I can genuinely believe actually practiced what he preached. Also, Diogenes the Cynic, and Machiavelli.

>>4360331
Agreed that they've all got the most work that remains, so they're the "greatest". However, people like Chrysippus and Epicurus wrote a fuckload, but nothing really surives.

Modern philosophy sucks.

>>4360344
Kant is a smart dude, but his shit does not translate well into reality at all. He's worse than Plato for building castles in the sky. I also find his ethics to be garabge. It's far too easy for maxims to conflict, and he acts like being moral is hard to do, which is Enlightnemnet bullshit.

>>4360377
My thesis advisor has a huge boner for Aristotle. I guess he's super balanced. I prefer the Stoics, though. He told me to go back and read more Aristotle once I've finished my degrees.

[Anonymous No.4360430]

>>4360421
Kant was wrong, but like so many German philosophers he was wrong in very interesting ways and raises good problems. His system is sexy as hell when you think about it. Everything comes together...but then it doesn't really.

Virtue ethics is still the undisputed champ.

[Anonymous No.4360431]

>>4360423

Oh im going to start all the way from the beginning and cover each great name in depth. We had a week to read each book and I'm not very fast so I had to skim for the most part. Looking forward to reaching the 19th century philosophers though.

[Anonymous No.4360439]

"The greatest thinker of all times, in my opinion, is Aristotle. Everything, in his work, is defined with wonderful clarity and simplicity. Later, volumes were written to define the same things." - James Joyce

[Anonymous No.4360441]

>>4360408
>the toughest and most abstract questions

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.

[Anonymous No.4360440]

>>4360377
That's nicely put. I like that whole final return to the Greeks approach and sentiment very much. I end up sitting in the garden instead of going for a walk though.

[Anonymous No.4360453]

>>4360441
>tfw questions are dissolved