Remember the BBC poll to determine the greatest philosopher in history?
Well, they’ve announced the winner and it’s none other than Uncle Karl himself! And by a significant margin too!
Here’s how the vote broke down:
Marx: 27.93%
Hume: 12.67%
Wittgenstein: 6.80%
Nietzsche: 6.49%
Plato: 5.65%
Kant: 5.61%
St. Thomas: 4.83%
Socrates: 4.82%
Aristotle: 4.52%
Karl Popper: 4.20%
How sad that the British Communist and Socialist communities have nothing better to do than to stuff the ballot box for Marx.
Especially when Engels is not even mentioned. Humph.
And what does it say that the top three vote-getters all had rather dim views of philosophy itself? Marx thought the point was to change the world rather than understand it; Hume thought there was very little we could know of a philosophical or metaphysical nature; Wittgenstein thought philosophical problems needed to be dissolved rather than solved.
The people who really beleived in truth, beauty, and goodness and that it was humankind’s highest calling to know them didn’t make the cut. Significant?
wow you seem kinda pissed about it lee!
I voted for Plato myself. Thought the guy who pretty much got the whole ball rolling deserved to be #1.
As little as I know about philosophy, though, I would say the way it turned out is pretty dumb. I think Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Kant all have much better claims to the throne. Yeah, Descartes didn’t even make the cut, did he?
True – Descartes gets a lot of credit (or blame, depending on your point of view) for inagurating modern thought in many ways. I once heard a philosophy prof blame D. for everything from the oppression of women to the destruction of the environment! Poor guy!
A Thinking Reed 
Leave a reply to Lee Cancel reply