who is greatest philosopher of 20th century?

[paragon]

Whenever icecream posts a thread, I always get this stuck in my head:  ???

whever you post a thread . . .


oh yeah you dont post threads  ;D

I'll be embarrased if no-one replies.  And I'm too stupid to think of an interesting topic.

Now I have it stuck in my head again!! :(

[icecream]

hehe

the trick is not to care if it interesting r not and not to care if no one reply!!

[Gilgamesh]

“It is only in language that one can mean something by something.”—Ludwig Wittgenstein

i dont get it. please explain

It's a positive statement about language with negative connotations.  Philosophers use language to talk about things ultimate and transcendent, and yet even language has its limits.  In language, one can mean something by a word, a symbol, or a concept.  But how do you simply mean something?  “Just do it,” I suppose, as Bo Jackson famously said.  Johnny Marr probably won’t be remembered as the 20th century’s greatest philosopher, but maybe his contribution was of a subtler, more beautiful sort:

“If you know how to play how you feel, you can voice it without all the hustle of turning it into words and concepts.  You don’t have to translate to make your point.  You don’t even have to be making a point.”



He composed some pretty melodies that meant something to a lot of people.  He didn't write volumes of turgid philosophy.  Wittgenstein (who wrote a fair share) probably would've nevertheless appreciated that.  Not everyone, unfortunately, can have a "vocabulary on the guitar."  Hence the Summa and the Tractatus.

wittgenstein was he a ladies man?

I don't think he quite was.  Derek Jarman made a film about him, if you know what I mean.  ;D

[icecream]

tx gilgamesh! i know excatty what you mean now.

another question:

who is greatest heterosexual philopshpher of 20th century?

and if the greatest heterosexual philospher of 20th centiry were pitted against greatest homosexual philopsher of 20th century on celebrity deathmatch whichcome out on top?

[Gilgamesh]

who is greatest heterosexual philopshpher of 20th century?

and if the greatest heterosexual philospher of 20th centiry were pitted against greatest homosexual philopsher of 20th century on celebrity deathmatch whichcome out on top?

That’s a good question, I.C.  I think this is one of those areas where philosophical inquiry reaches some truly dizzying heights. 

Who would win?  And what if we’re all in the Matrix?  :smokin:

Wittgenstein looks kind of wiry, sinewy, and possessed—definitely the kind of guy who’d be formidable in a fight.  And yet he even seems like he’d be a fierce opponent in badminton or chess, too.  Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (an earlier nominee for the title), on other hand, appears gentle and timid.  Award goes to Wittgenstein?

Congratulations, by the way, on your four thousandth.

[icecream]

who is greatest heterosexual philopshpher of 20th century?

and if the greatest heterosexual philospher of 20th centiry were pitted against greatest homosexual philopsher of 20th century on celebrity deathmatch whichcome out on top?

That’s a good question, I.C.  I think this is one of those areas where philosophical inquiry reaches some truly dizzying heights. 

Who would win?  And what if we’re all in the Matrix?  :smokin:

Wittgenstein looks kind of wiry, sinewy, and possessed—definitely the kind of guy who’d be formidable in a fight.  And yet he even seems like he’d be a fierce opponent in badminton or chess, too.  Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (an earlier nominee for the title), on other hand, appears gentle and timid.  Award goes to Wittgenstein?

Congratulations, by the way, on your four thousandth.

hey tx gilgamesh!

i too say wittgensteinbetween those two

but i bet fr. lagrange beat him every other way

[SouthpawLink]

Only at Fish Eaters...  :laughing:

I suppose I was subconsciously thinking of "best 20th century theologian" when I answered earlier in the thread; that happens sometimes.

As for the best or greatest pure 20th century philosopher, I don't know.  I'm having a hard enough time trying to stay committed to reading Msgr. Glenn's philosophy series.  I'm new at this and it'll be a long time before I even think about the "modern" philosophers (starting with Descartes).  I would much rather spend my time on Plato and Aristotle.

Edit: Grammar.

[Walty]

Garrigou-Lagrange was not timid in any way.  He was referred to by his enemies as the "Monster of Thomism".

[Gilgamesh]

but i bet fr. lagrange beat him every other way

Even in philosophy?  I'm not sure of what's all that commendable in refining Thomism.  I guess if you're a Thomist it's worth some points, but what the Thomists can't stand (or appreciate) is that the Church's influence on philosophy has waned, and that the discipline has tended in very different directions over the more recent centuries.  I like what I know of Wittgenstein because he seemed, in the course of copious amounts of philosophical writing, to wonder if copious amounts of philosophical writing were anything but just that.  Zen had an impact on the West shortly thereafter.  The Angelic Thomist himself is said to have remarked that his works were nothing but straw compared to his mystical experience.

Garrigou-Lagrange was not timid in any way.  He was referred to by his enemies as the "Monster of Thomism".

You mean an intellectual monster?  Or a behavioral one?  Going by pictures, I’d still wager on Wittgenstein in icecream's hypothetical “death match.”

Have a look at Martin Heidegger, though, Marc’s no. 2 nominee.  And he was not, reportedly, of the limp-wristed variety.  To put it in icecreamese: “i bet he take on wittgenstein and lagrange together and still win!  he a german too.  that count for a lot.”

[Walty]

It helps that Heidegger was a Nazi.