Most popular Philosophers

A very Western and exclusionary perspective.
More people have probably read Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Mencius than ever read Leibniz, Kant, or Decartes.
 
Cypress said:
A very Western and exclusionary perspective.
More people have probably read Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Mencius than ever read Leibniz, Kant, or Decartes.
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I'll bet your most people could not quote a single line from Confucius, Lao Tzu, or Mencius. But know Descartes said I think therefore I am. Or that Socrates/Plato said the unexamined life is not worth living.
 
Cypress said:
A very Western and exclusionary perspective.
More people have probably read Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Mencius than ever read Leibniz, Kant, or Decartes.
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Machiavelli, who is widely considered a political philosopher, has probably been more widely read and influential than anyone on that list other than Aristotle
 
Cypress said:
Confucius' impact on world history and the number of people who have read him far exceeds Liebniz, Kant, Descartes, and maybe even Plato.

You just have to step outside the prison of European imperialism to recognize it
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How did Confucius influence the United States?
 
I agree with the OP that Plato is the most influential philosopher in the western tradition, by a country mile
 
Some of my favorites are Shakespeare, Confucius, Marcus Aurelius, Martin Luther King, John Lennon & Paul McCartney, Dylan- and too many other Rock & Roll and Blues Artist Philosophers to mention.
 
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Geeko Sportivo said:
Not sure Shakespeare didn't recycle some of the old world philosophy or he thought it up while writing scripts or what, but his quotes come up more often than most other philosophers.
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I am aware of the plays he wrote, but have never seen his philosophical writing. Can you cite something?
 
BidenPresident said:
I was mentioning some of the many accomplishments of Leibniz for people who have no idea who he is.
Not knowing who someone is does not mean they are not influential.
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Descartes and Liebniz were polymaths who made indispensable contributions to mathematics as well as philosophy.

The title of your thread is "most popular philosophers"

The population of western Europe was always at least five or ten times smaller than East Asia, and I'm almost certain more people have read Confucious and heard of him than Liebniz or Kant, strictly on a head count basis..
 
BidenPresident said:
Leibniz invented the idea of possible worlds. Very influential in contemporary logic and the philosophy of language.
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I think he belongs in the pantheon of eminent philosophers.

But going by the criteria in your thread title, 'most popular', I'm looking at it strictly from a head count perspective. There are two and a half billion people in East and South Asia, compared to 200 million in western Europe and 300 million in North America.

I would tend to assume the top five most popular or well known philosophers on a head count basis are all Asian: I would submit Gandhi, Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and Zhuangzi as nominees.
 
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