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Who Is Your Favorite Philosopher?
Comte De Maistre

Posted on 06/25/2003 5:57:42 PM PDT by 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.


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To: RightWhale
>>>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.
21 posted on 06/25/2003 6:10:25 PM PDT by ComtedeMaistre
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Jesus.
22 posted on 06/25/2003 6:10:44 PM PDT by rdb3 (Nerve-racking since 0413hrs on XII-XXII-MCMLXXI)
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To: The Magical Mischief Tour
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?"

23 posted on 06/25/2003 6:11:03 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Edmund Burke.
24 posted on 06/25/2003 6:11:12 PM PDT by The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Tred Barta
25 posted on 06/25/2003 6:11:25 PM PDT by Sam Cree (Democrats are herd animals)
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Mark Twain and ME!
26 posted on 06/25/2003 6:11:43 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Negotiate!! .............(((Blam!.)))........... "Now who else wants to negotiate?")
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Robert Heinlein
27 posted on 06/25/2003 6:12:08 PM PDT by tortoise (Would you like to buy some rubber nipples?)
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To: ComtedeMaistre
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.

28 posted on 06/25/2003 6:12:15 PM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: ComtedeMaistre
I'm torn among Hank Hill, Homer Simpson, and Forrest Gump
29 posted on 06/25/2003 6:12:29 PM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Newt Gingrich
30 posted on 06/25/2003 6:12:51 PM PDT by tuna_battle_slight_return (Foam is good; foam saves lives.)
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To: ComtedeMaistre
John Locke
31 posted on 06/25/2003 6:13:05 PM PDT by bigeasy_70118
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Alfred E. Neuman
32 posted on 06/25/2003 6:13:12 PM PDT by Ready4Freddy (Veni Vidi Velcro (I came, I saw, I stuck around :))
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To: ComtedeMaistre
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!"

33 posted on 06/25/2003 6:13:18 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Martin Luther
34 posted on 06/25/2003 6:13:31 PM PDT by squirt
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To: ComtedeMaistre
At the moment, Edmund Burke. Though "favorites" are a notoriously passing thing.
35 posted on 06/25/2003 6:13:41 PM PDT by Snuffington
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To: ComtedeMaistre
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!

36 posted on 06/25/2003 6:15:20 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
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To: ComtedeMaistre
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.
37 posted on 06/25/2003 6:16:51 PM PDT by Vision Thing
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Rodney King.
38 posted on 06/25/2003 6:17:25 PM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: ComtedeMaistre
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!?!

39 posted on 06/25/2003 6:17:43 PM PDT by fqued
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To: ComtedeMaistre
Ayn Rand, without a doubt. If Neitzsche is a philosopher, Rand must be as well...
40 posted on 06/25/2003 6:19:14 PM PDT by The Drowning Witch (Sono La Voce della Nazione Selvaggia)
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