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Favourite Philosophers and Spiritual Teachers?

Spamtar

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No particular order:

Aristotle,Lao Tzu, Sun Tzu, Jesus,Marcus Aurelius, Machiavelli, Baltasar Gracian, Descartes, Samuel Johnson, Thomas Jefferson, Lord Chesterfield, Sir Edward Coke, Carl von Clausewitz, Nietzsche, Simone Weil, C.S. Lewis, Malcolm X, Patrick Buchanan, Noam Chomsky and Ron Paul.
 

Spamtar

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^Spoken like a good indoctrinated socialist comrade;)
 

Venom

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Hayek, Ron Paul, Rand...

oh god...its the unholy trilogy! :doh:


For me personally:
Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Jefferson, South Park (not kidding)


I also think Plato vs Aristotle could be a nice personality test in itself. I tend to like Plato's ideas, but side with Aristotle.
 

Mole

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Oh, I forgot -

I regard Doonesbury as not so much a comic as a guide to life.

And Dilbert as a warning to life.

But Pogo is the voice of innocence.
 

Lark

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oh god...its the unholy trilogy! :doh:


For me personally:
Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Jefferson, South Park (not kidding)


I also think Plato vs Aristotle could be a nice personality test in itself. I tend to like Plato's ideas, but side with Aristotle.

They sure are, I wasnt mentioning them as my favourite, just others had mentioned them.
 

lowtech redneck

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Hayek, Ron Paul, Rand...

You guys know you're going to hell right?

Just like my momma saaaaid...:devil:

Seriously, though, Hayek has about as much in common with Rand as Locke has in common with Rousseau.

As for my opinions on those other philosphers:

I think Lock's ideas have tremendous utilitarian value but little foundational validity.

I despise Rousseau as the "father of modern totalitarianism" (I independently came to that conclusion before I ever heard that quote).

I am neutral about Rand (extreme partisans on either side bemuse me-which seems to mean that most people bemuse me). She makes the same mistake as Marx, in mistaking an important insight into complicated reality as the dominant aspect of human society-unlike Marx, her philosophy has built-in safeguards (both intentional and unintended) that prevent abuse at a societal level, so her ideas have been a net benefit to humanity IMO.
 
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Into It

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I justwrote a really long replyand it got deleted since it took so lonbg to write. But i'll just say Russell is my favorite and he's very enjoyable.
And thatI think Bentham and Mill had the most pragmatic ethical ideas, and that Spinoza and I look at the universe in a very similar way, although I don't necessarilly think we have to - or even should - love it.
And that Hume is really great but I haven't actually read a lot of that, but will get to it when I'm done with Ethics.
And the philosopher I am most excited about reading in the future is Sartre, or maybe Kierkegaard.;

And Nietzsche has a special place in my heart because the first three philosophy books that I read were Beyond Good & Evil, the Antichrist, and Twilight of the idols. I liked twilight of the idols so much that I read it three times in a row to make sure the ideas in it 'stuck'.
 

KDude

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I like Lao Tzu (and by extension, all Taoist and Zen adherents).

I like the moments in the Gospels where Jesus of Nazareth says "Don't worry, be like the birds".. There are some other versions of Jesus I'm not too sure about though.

I like Marcus Aurelius.
 

JoSunshine

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Dr. Seuss! Check out the signature....that some wise &^&*$ :)
 

Halla74

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Jenna Jameson
Jill Kelly
Nikki Taylor

:whistling:
 

nanook

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philosopher: (overview of all of existence, and human developement): Ken Wilber

energetic view (additional perspective to human developement) also other topics: Caroline Myss
dealing with nasty issues, like love: Jiddu Krishnamurti

audiobooks and youtube:

awakening and self acceptance: Adyashanti
dreaming of everything: Alan Watts
meditation: Shinzen Young, Jack Kornfield

i know more, but this thread is about favourites....
 
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Ezra

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I'm a big fan of Plato. I also love Hume.
 

KDude

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^ I like Plato when he's Socrates; or rather, when he speaks for Socrates. I suppose Socrates was real.

I don't like it so much for the concepts, but just because the dialogue style and Socrates being the "gadfly" that he was, was entertaining.
 

Paisley

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Cornelius Van Til, G.K. Chesterton, Alvin Plantinga, Ravi Zacharias, and William Lane Craig.
 

CuriousFeeling

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Nietzsche, J.S. Mill, Harriet Taylor, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Mary Wollstonecraft, Galileo, Boyle, Newton. Basically those from Rationalism, Existentialism, Feminism, Utilitarianism.
 
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