Who Is Your Favorite Philosopher?

Comte De Maistre

[ComtedeMaistre]

That was the question that George W. was asked in the 2000 campaign. Unfortunately, the questioner failed to provide a precise definition of how to define a philosopher.

A useful definition of a philosopher is anybody who has ever written a book on ideas. Anybody. Whether he is an economist, theologian, politician, mathematician, soldier, boxer, musician, historian, artist, psychologist, sociologist, anthropologist, biologist, physicist, athlete, etc, etc, etc.

Yes, I do recognize Yogi Berra as a notable philosopher. Even Barry Goldwater, notwithstanding the fact that his book, "Conscience of a Conservative" was ghost-written for him.

Certainly, if some of the well-read freepers know of philosophers noted for conservative ideas, their contributions are certainly welcome.

For my part, my favorite philosopher is the anti-enlightenment thinker, Joseph de Maistre (also known as Comte de Maistre). I regard him as the most authentic conservative intellectual of all time. Reading his works made me realize how the spread of moral relativism can endanger civilization.

[ComtedeMaistre]

>>>I was going to say 'Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand, but my philosophy prof said there is no philosophy in that book.<<<

That is why I did not limit my definition of "philosopher" to the definitions used by philosophy professors working in academia. Most people have never read technical works on philosophy. But they have read a book or two, expressing some idea or other.

Ayn Rand certainly qualifies as a philosopher in the general world of ideas, because her novels were about ideas and concepts.

[rdb3]

Jesus.

[Alberta's Child]

Not far from the truth.

One of my Windows sound clips (for an error message!) is from Hank Hill:

"For your next trick why don't I kick yer @ss?"

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Edmund Burke.

[Sam Cree]

Tred Barta

[Cold Heat]

Mark Twain and ME!

[tortoise]

Robert Heinlein

[Kevin Curry]

My favorite political philosopher: Russell Kirk. But then, Kirk's favorite was Edmund Burke. Kirk and Burke were co-equals who understood the vital roles that family, religion, and traditional virtues serve in advancing the conservative cause and preserving a healthy society and nation.

They were genuine conservatives wholly unlike ersatz, brittle, and hollow conservative thinkers such as Ayn Rand.

[John Beresford Tipton]

I'm torn among Hank Hill, Homer Simpson, and Forrest Gump

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

Newt Gingrich

[bigeasy_70118]

John Locke

[Ready4Freddy]

Alfred E. Neuman

[Alberta's Child]

My former philosophy professor, who provided a marvelous distraction from the rigors of engineering school, and whose dry, cynical wit I still carry to this day.

"Today we will begin the study of modern philosophy. Now, for those of you who went to public schools and don't know any better, the first modern philosopher was NOT Bob Dylan!"

[squirt]

Martin Luther

[Snuffington]

At the moment, Edmund Burke. Though "favorites" are a notoriously passing thing.

[AnAmericanMother]

Nobody's posted this yet?

The Philosopher's Song

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.
David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.
There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya
'Bout the raising of the wrist.
Socrates himself was permanently pissed

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Plato, they say, could stick it away
Half a crate of whiskey every day.
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle,
Hobbes was fond of his dram,
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart:
"I drink, therefore I am"

Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed!

[Vision Thing]

I'm not sure if Allan Bloom would consider himself a philosopher. He would probably label himself a teacher of philosophy. But he wrote his mainstream book The Closing of the American Mind to outline what he saw as the damaging influence of leftist and relatavist thought in America.

[Alberta's Child]

Rodney King.

[fqued]

According to your "useful definition" of a philosopher, neither Socrates nor Jesus qualifies, since neither ever wrote a book or treatise that we know of. And yet, both of these qualify as philosophers of the first rank.

Again, Buddha does not qualify. But, any Tom, Dick, or Harry who wrote a children's book does!?!

[The Drowning Witch]

Ayn Rand, without a doubt. If Neitzsche is a philosopher, Rand must be as well...