Please Provide a good reason, or don't bother at all

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"America is the most grandiose experiment the world has seen, but, I am afraid, it is not going to be a success"- Sigmund Freud

KRS One......Why cause he is a philosopher..........you'd only get the joke if you listened to his early music lol.

My Grandad... why... whenI took philosophy at uni, he was able to counteract all the 'western' arguments with a truely African perspective... opened my eyes for real...

...C me ya

I am going to be honest this is really hard to narrow down to one...

so I am going to give my top 5 in no particular order:

Paulo Coelho - I read The Manual of the Warrior of Light I read that book in about 3 hours or so in the airport lounge a beautiful book and I also enjoyed The Alchemist

Lao Tzu - Basic common sense messages that are transferable to many day to day situations...and you have to admire anyone who is so strategically devious...

King Solomon - The proverbsand wisdom of Solomon as far as I am concerned is one of the best books of the bible...I do not have a specific religious belief...but Proverbs of Solomon is some of the most profound and sensible advice you could hope to fine.

Khalil Gibrain - If you read the prophet you will understand, lovely poetic and inspirational book.

My Mother - Collective anthology of most of the sayings and wisdom of the of philosophers...

I'm also partial to Kafka, Nietcheze...Coltrane you played a very cruel trick on me as there are to many philosophical sayings/ philosopher'sthat I respect

Governmentally: Plato. While I disagree with many of his analogies for the composition of society. I feel that he had a true understanding of how humans function in a community of "high ideas".

Socially: W.E.B Dubois: I consider sociology to be philosophy. His concepts of the individuals toes to community and how they shape the ego are dead on.

Existentially: Watts and Talbot. Watts has some amazing insights that pull heavily from eastern (particularly Hindu) doctrines. He shows how much the ancient cultures of this world truly understood the quantum interplay of forces at work in the multiverse. Talbot for his insight into the truly subjective nature of existence and the (what i feel is correct) analogy, or really definition, of the universe as a hologram.

Karl Marx, because I agree with his ideas on the formation of western society especially with regards to capitalism and secularism.

Marquis de Sade because like him I feel that everyone ultimately lives for the greater good of themselves.

Descartes, because I like his circular reason and when he said becasue he cannot doubt himself,he cannot doubt the existance of God.

I also am a student of the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies,espcially ideas such as reincarnation karma and dharma.


I can't forget the band Live and PM Dawn. They are my musical gurus!blkheadrock

Medusa wrote:

I'm a socialist, not a communist, but I do love a lot of Marx's ideas. There is this little park in Wisconsin that has a statue of Marx that says: Karl Marx: A humanitarian of great vision. Blew my mind.

I love eastern philosophy. I started taking a lot of physics classes and eventually got entangled in Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Ether Dynamics. It gave me a whole new respect for the metaphorical knowledge and wisdom of the Hindu and other eastern philosophies. They could explain things that we barely understand now, and the more we come to understand, the more all of their beliefs make sense.

Also, Live is indeed sweet. Ever listen to A Perfect Circle?

@Mindless Tool...

I agree with your comments in terms of metaphysics and quantum physics...

They were way ahead of their time especially whenyou examine jainism in particular...

I could spend weeks holed up somewhere quiet with some philosophy books for company...

I may have to do that soon...

favorite \Fa"vor*ite\, n. [OF. favorit favored, F. favori, fem. favorite, p. p. of OF. favorir, cf. It. favorito, frm. favorita, fr. favorire to favor. See Favor.]

1. A person or thing regarded with peculiar favor; one treated with partiality; one preferred above others; especially, one unduly loved, trusted, and enriched with favors by a person of high rank or authority.


philosopher Phi*los"o*pher, n. [OE. philosophre, F. philosophe, L. philosophus, Gr. ?; ? loving + ? wise. Cf. Philosophy.]

1. One who philosophizes; one versed in, or devoted to, philosophy.
2. One who reduces the principles of philosophy to practice in the conduct of life; one who lives according to the rules of practical wisdom; one who meets or regards all vicissitudes with calmness.


I am my favorite philosopher.

@Coltrane.Top thread bro.

Hmmm best philosphers. ..Very diffcult.

1. In politics and society. Most of the Greek classic Socrates, Plato in particularly. I love their notions of the just and good society and the preconditions for bringing about this ideal state.

Hegel's concept of dialectic materialism. Excellent exposition in the nature of ideas and social processes. Top stuff. Karl Marx and his application of Hegalian dialectics and how he evolved the concept of human agency and social change.

I actually like German philosophers. Nietczhe probably the most and his excellent thoughst on The Superman and Ego as the driving force of history. Can't be beaten in understanding the role of elites the shaping of history and the power of man as it ulitmate determinant.

2. Von Moltke and Clauswitch and Henitz for me are Germanys best military philophers. Von Moltkes work on the art of defensive battles and how he applies principles of nature and other reasoning is simply pure genius.

The 5 Toasit books on Leadership. Probably the best thing I have ever read on moral leadership in a military or political context.

Frenchman Focaulat. Probably the greatest post structuralist philopsher of modern western society on literally everything. The nature of ideas, the construction of thought and lanaguge the symoblic construction of realtiy. Focault is the man of our times no doubt.

Professor Maulana Ron Karenga and his ongoing work on Kawaida and probably the most outstanding black thinker of our time or generation. Kawida is a philosophy of life based oncommon and shared core values from black African societies and belief systems taken at an essential level and applied andused to explain any number of things. His translations of the Husia and particularly its inclusion of the works of the great Ptah amongst others and other Kemtic philosphers simply the best thing in African moral philosphy you will find.

Lao Tse (spelling) Author of the Tao..

Ptah Hotep.. who can forget the old sage..

Sun Tzu love the dissection into the arts and means of war and strategy..

Mushiti mashaki (Book of 5 rings) same sort of stuff..

Almost forgot.

Any good concious Rapper or DJ. Philosophers in theirown right.

I have alot but Hegel, because he succeeded in working out a scientific and revolutionary method called the dialectical method. It needed to be synthesised with materialism, however, and this was succeeded brilliantly in the system of thought of Karl Marx, who clarified the identity of subject and object, being and consciousness in both natural and social phenomena. I can trace many of my own ideas and ways of thinking directly to Hegel, whose philosophical works I rate among the greatest in history

Seeing as Marx is a tad obvious, I'll instead go with Evald Ilyenkov. Now, as a Marxist Ilyenkov was never going to do anything radically different. However, his primary importance for me lies in two fields. Firstly, he managed to properly systemise the Marxian dilalectic in away that others often fail to do. His does this primarily through the study Grundrisse and Capital, the former laying out a method and the latter conforming to it. In doing this he also manages to aviod the vulgar mechanism of certain other Marxists, and pays due attention to dialectics as well as materialism. Secondly as a comparatively recent Marxian philosopher his work is also directed at more modern philosophical schools. Thus his a critique of logical positivism is excellent. As is I think he stands as someone capable of understanding social development from a truly Marxian, and thus correct, standpoint:


and lastly Rousseau, for straddling the lines between republicanism, liberalism, utopianism, progressive enlightenment and decay theory. Few are able to be as versatile yet as consistent. Despite this, it's also true that few are as maddeningly contradictory - he wrote a famed treatise on educaiton, yet wasn't very concerned with his own children. He wasn't just a great theorist, but an interesting man.

As far as maulan Karenga I belive he opened most of our people imagine today we are talking about Kwanzaa his brainshild a great man