Nietzsche is my favorite fellow. He is terribly misunderstood, mainly because people tend to react to what his ideas about the world instead of thinking about it, then looking around to see how it plays out.
If he had lived in our times, he would have been a political cartoonist/satirist extraordinaire, or a stand up comedian.
Who is your favorite philosopher, and why?
lol Too funny!
I'm with you on Nietzsche but....to be honest I'm a giant fan of Chomsky.
I just got his "The Essential Chomsky" for x-mas this year...and love it!
I like him because he's controversial and politically incorrect....but only when people are wearing blinders.
Oddly, when people pull their heads out of their asses...he begins to make sense to them. (I am referring of course, to the war in Iraq.)
I love Nietzsche, hence the inspiration for this site .. the "Herd" Great Nietzsche quote
I'm a big fan of the Stoic's as in Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, but you just gotta love the "In your face" Nietzsche! 
Fear is the Mother of Morality
-- Nietzsche
"That which does not kill us, makes us stronger," has always been my moto. I started reading Nietszche when I was in seventh grade. Every once on a while I will pick up Thus Spoke Zarathustra or something else.
My least favorite would be Kant. No big disagreements with his writings but I took a class on him in college that was ridiculously hard and I barely understood what he was talking about. At the same time nerdy grad students were having the most insane discussions I've ever heard. The rest of us just kicked back once we realized none of the in-class theorizing was going to be on the test.
Wow. Never heard of him before today. Just did a little reading on him. Looks to be insanely interesting.....
Get a load of this from Wiki....
He suggested that by understanding the sources and limits of human knowledge we can ask fruitful metaphysical questions. He asked if an object can be known to have certain properties prior to the experience of that object. He concluded that all objects that the mind can think about must conform to its manner of thought. Therefore if the mind can think only in terms of causality – which he concluded that it does – then we can know prior to experiencing them that all objects we experience must either be a cause or an effect. However, it follows from this that it is possible that there are objects of such a nature that the mind cannot think of them, and so the principle of causality, for instance, cannot be applied outside of experience: hence we cannot know, for example, whether the world always existed or if it had a cause. And so the grand questions of speculative metaphysics are off limits, but the sciences are firmly grounded in laws of the mind.
Looking for peace, and finally getting it......
Yeah, it got way over my head fast. Nothing like listening to two people argue about what ethical system would be in place in a universe that consisted only of a single note of sound. Even I didn't smoke that much pot in college.
HEHEHEHEHEHEHE......
I can see where that would wind up in chaos and anarchy quickly! And I did smoke a lot of pot in college! 
Looking for peace, and finally getting it......
Oh, I forgot to mention it is all translated from 19th century German (he was terrible at grammar spelling) so half the time nobody really knows what he meant to say.
Great! Glad to hear it! 
Looking for peace, and finally getting it......
For me, Aristotle remains and oldie but a goodie..... so to speak. His theories and ideologies stand the test of time even after several thousands of years.
If you're a fan of Nietzsche you surely have read Beyond Good and Evil.
Please explain to me why Nietzsche is saying something on one page and
on the next is contradicting himself.
Maybe, it's related with his mental disorder...
My favorite philosophers are Plato and Camus. Although, Plato is full of crap most of the time his optimistic view on the world is contagious.
I am endeared to the power of Socratic dialog, gleaning truths from conversations with the salt of the earth.
If you're a fan of Nietzsche you surely have read Beyond Good and Evil.
Please explain to me why Nietzsche is saying something on one page and
on the next is contradicting himself.Maybe, it's related with his mental disorder...
Nietzsche was his on worst critic
He's all about questioning everything and is the eternal sceptic 
If you state something on one page and then on the other you say the exact opposite, it
doesn't mean you are being critic with yourself. It means you are way off the logic
path and way on bipolar disorder path.
I believe that all of the above afore mentioned philosophical writings are of value. I would also like to add Herman Hesse although in the strict sense he was not a philospher, he offers some valid insight. There are some American's too that provide solid food for thought. What I believe is of importance is to read and then exprapolate to the current human experience if one intends to seek an understanding or philosophy to assign to self.
The quest of knowledge is to be human in of itself.
It is a true pleasure to see that others seek explanation or philosophy that they can put their minds around. There is yet hope for the species!
Never heard of him before today.
Seriously bro I am surprised! We need to work on that. Want me to send you some books to read as you wallow in the cold of Wisconsin?
Seriously bro I am surprised! We need to work on that. Want me to send you some books to read as you wallow in the cold of Wisconsin?
That would be nice....
Looking for peace, and finally getting it......
I don't know about favorite, but Nietzsche is certainly one of the most entertaining philosophers. Marcus Aurielius was admirable in many ways, but also a contradiction. Schopenhauer is a bitter pill, but he makes me feel good about my own life by comparison. Socrates gets brownie points for sacrificing his life in support of an intellectual ideal. That takes a level of moral courage few of us have. Aristotle gave us the Poetics -- kudos for that. Kant is genuinely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influencial. But favorite? Does George Carlin count?
George Carlin, he is sorely missed. But yes to be honest I'd classify him as a great Philosopher along with Lenny Bruce!
Back to the Stoic's, Marcus was brilliant and was a student of Epictetus who is another one of my favorites. Now I don't profess to be a fanatic on philosophy, but I like reading them from time to time. It brings what you would call "balance" to my life
Carlin and Bruce two of the greatest social commentators/comics this country ever had!
Carlin and Bruce two of the greatest social commentators/comics this country ever had!
That they are, may they live on forever!
I must also say "Matt and Trey" are coming well into their own, South Park has always had outstanding social overtones to it. Not to mention the movies of "Team America, World Police" and "Orgasmo"
I seldom watch South Park not that I don't like it - just usually doing something else. I need to check out some of the movies listed.
George Carlin, he is sorely missed. But yes to be honest I'd classify him as a great Philosopher along with Lenny Bruce!
Back to the Stoic's, Marcus was brilliant and was a student of Epictetus who is another one of my favorites. Now I don't profess to be a fanatic on philosophy, but I like reading them from time to time. It brings what you would call "balance" to my life
Any other Marcus fans out there? Then avoid "The Emperor's Handbook." I got it 'cuz I was disenchanted with the venerable Long translation. Particularly with its references to "God" when Marcus was a polytheist. I was impressed with the Brother Hicks' long Introduction and their professed faithfulness to the original Greek, blah-blah.
Dudes and Dudesses -- they Christianized Marcus!! Gonna burn it!
The beauty of Marcus is he was instrumental in saving me from the dogma I'd lived and taught my entire life then discovered to be empty when I needed it most. From some dumbed down Epictetus to Marcus, then on to Nietzsche -- his "Genealogy of Morals" is taking me years to read, literally, I think it's his most lucid work. Marcus finest quote unlocked the secret of life for me: "The universe is transformation: life is opinion." (Book IV)
With "Zeitgeist" putting the rest of the pieces together, now I'm just your garden variety existential deist.
My favorite would be Socrates:)
The Socratic method is very simple yet very complex (hehe).
And he is the only one that I can remember from my Humanities subject
My favorite philosopher is Mencius. I really lov his ideas for the good of the citizen and the government. Remember his well-fild system? Isn't it great?
"The Socratic method is very simple yet very complex (hehe)."
WOW! Simple yt complex! Ha ha! That's interesting. Srves him right to be your favorite.
One of my favorites would be Bobby Henderson's Pastafarianism. He wrote the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Look him up on Wiki for further info...
The Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts"(Capitalization and censorship as per original text)
I hear of Nietzsche before but nevet got interested until now and I'm beggining to like him.
I'm not sure about Nietzsche but I love some of his ideas. Unfortunately I can't say who is my beloved philosopher. I think that in the modern world one should use the different ideas of the different philosophers. But I am absolutely sure that we must use the ideas of the humanism and the tolerance.
Buddha is the one i like the most because of his great thinking
Buddhism is a moral philosophy / religion based upon the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (566 - 486 B.C.).
Siddhartha Gautama became known as the Buddha. 'Buddha' (from the ancient Indian languages of Pali and Sanskrit) means "one who has awakened". It is derived from the verbal root "budh", meaning "to awaken" or "to be enlightened", and "to comprehend".
