Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.

Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.

Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.

Intelligentsia of DL: who is America's greatest living philosopher?

Asking for a friend.

by Anonymousreply 79October 6, 2024 1:47 AM

Noam Chomsky

by Anonymousreply 1September 30, 2024 10:50 PM

Dolly Parton

by Anonymousreply 2September 30, 2024 10:57 PM

Robert Brandom.

by Anonymousreply 3September 30, 2024 11:01 PM

David Ehrenstein

by Anonymousreply 4September 30, 2024 11:05 PM

Judith Butler

by Anonymousreply 5October 1, 2024 12:13 AM

Bonnie Mace

by Anonymousreply 6October 1, 2024 12:32 AM

Martha Nussbaum or

Saul Kripke

by Anonymousreply 7October 1, 2024 12:44 AM

OPRAH !

by Anonymousreply 8October 1, 2024 12:48 AM

Deepak Chopra!

by Anonymousreply 9October 1, 2024 1:39 AM

Helen Lawson

by Anonymousreply 10October 1, 2024 1:40 AM

R5 is probably correct in the sense that Judith Butler’s work on Gender Theory has had the most influence/greatest impact on America society

by Anonymousreply 11October 1, 2024 1:45 AM

Dennett I suppose

by Anonymousreply 12October 1, 2024 1:56 AM

Robert Brandom or Saul Kripke

by Anonymousreply 13October 1, 2024 1:58 AM

r12 Dennett died in April.

by Anonymousreply 14October 1, 2024 1:59 AM

Even lightweight Peter Boghossian is included in the (trigger warning: Wikipedia) list below. He was one of the "Grievance Studies Hoax" authors. Many of the people listed are academics barely known outside their institutions. The number of *publicly known* philosophers is quite limited.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 15October 1, 2024 2:13 AM

I’d have said Saul Kripke but I think he just died.

by Anonymousreply 16October 1, 2024 2:15 AM

Correct, Kripke and Dennett are dead. TBH it probably is Butler.

by Anonymousreply 17October 1, 2024 2:21 AM

I read Butler's recent "Who's Afraid of Gender?" with as open a mind as I could muster, but (her global influence aside) the shoddy reasoning and willful omissions in that book cannot be the work of any country's "greatest living philosopher," even bearing in mind that this is her first commercial, mass-market work. And yes, I have read several of her other writings.

by Anonymousreply 18October 1, 2024 2:32 AM

Well, then it's me. I'm the only who sees that a service economiy is naturally oligopolistic because of the social conditioning of consumption. That's why m anufacturing is so important to not being trapped in a feudal state.

by Anonymousreply 19October 1, 2024 2:32 AM

If we expand this to the Americas one could mention Gustavo Gutierrez. I would have said Enrique Dussel but sadly he too recently died.

by Anonymousreply 20October 1, 2024 2:36 AM

Teacake

by Anonymousreply 21October 1, 2024 2:42 AM

My wife.

by Anonymousreply 22October 1, 2024 3:01 AM

Sharon Stone.

by Anonymousreply 23October 1, 2024 3:12 AM

The answers to this questions are pretty much the same ones as the ones to the thread about who attended Diddy's "freak-offs"!

by Anonymousreply 24October 1, 2024 3:35 AM

Supposedly Chamosky encountered the greatest inspiration of his life after attending a freak off.

by Anonymousreply 25October 1, 2024 4:00 AM

Donald Trump.

by Anonymousreply 26October 1, 2024 4:27 AM

Butt Head

by Anonymousreply 27October 1, 2024 5:20 AM

Carrot Top

by Anonymousreply 28October 1, 2024 5:35 AM

Susan Dey

by Anonymousreply 29October 1, 2024 5:41 AM

Noam Chomsky is dead, r1.

by Anonymousreply 30October 1, 2024 5:50 AM

Almost, that is.

by Anonymousreply 31October 1, 2024 5:51 AM

Noam Chomsky is still alive and kicking at 95, r30.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 32October 1, 2024 5:52 AM

I just realized that r32.

by Anonymousreply 33October 1, 2024 5:53 AM

Kellyanne Conway

by Anonymousreply 34October 1, 2024 7:07 AM

Chomsky suffered a massive stroke last year and spent a long time recuperating in Brazil, but thankfully he is still with us.

by Anonymousreply 35October 1, 2024 7:25 AM

I'd think that at least some part of being any country's greatest living philosopher would be contributing to the advancement of, and awareness of, the field. That also includes demonstrating the relevance of philosophy to everyday life. Butler's ideas are hugely influential (go into any of the minefields that is a DL trans thread, and you'll see people arguing for or against Butler's ideas whether they know it or not), but Butler's style of communication is unappealing to many people who might otherwise be interested.

It's odd to think that someone who's potentially "America's greatest living philosopher" not only uses they/them pronouns but also requires personal security and was burned in effigy and physically attacked in Brazil:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 36October 1, 2024 7:45 AM

We'd better put some dead American philosophers in there, just to gain some context. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau, John Dewey, John Rawls. Betty Friedan, Ayn Rand, Thomas Kuhn, David Kellogg Lewis. I don't think of Chomsky as being primarily a philosopher. His field is linguistics, and he is a public intellectual, with very strong feelings about politics. political activism, and social criticism. However, some people do regard him as a philosopher. Cornel West, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, Philip Kitcher, Daniel Dennet. and yes, Judith Butler. Probably your greatest American living philosopher would probably come from that group. But they are very different and their conclusions are different, so maybe only time will tell.

by Anonymousreply 37October 1, 2024 7:58 AM

Ayn Rand is neither American nor a philosopher.

by Anonymousreply 38October 1, 2024 8:11 AM

Nor living, thank God

by Anonymousreply 39October 1, 2024 8:15 AM

And Peter Singer is Australian (though has lived in the U.S. for decades), but good list otherwise. Ayn Rand became a naturalized U.S. citizen in her twenties, I think. We might despise her ideas and find them garbage, but technically she did develop "Objectivism" and is generally regarded as a philosopher.

by Anonymousreply 40October 1, 2024 8:17 AM

[quote]I don't think of Chomsky as being primarily a philosopher. His field is linguistics, and he is a public intellectual, with very strong feelings about politics. political activism, and social criticism. However, some people do regard him as a philosopher. Cornel West, Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, Philip Kitcher, Daniel Dennet. and yes, Judith Butler.

If you're going to be rigorous regarding academic definitions, then Cornel West isn't really a philosopher either: his field is the study of religion.

by Anonymousreply 41October 1, 2024 2:00 PM

r18 she also plagiarized parts

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 42October 1, 2024 10:45 PM

Melania Trump.

by Anonymousreply 43October 1, 2024 11:28 PM

Marjorie Taylor Greene.

by Anonymousreply 44October 1, 2024 11:31 PM

If we want to include the recently deceased then the answer is Richard Rorty.

by Anonymousreply 45October 1, 2024 11:49 PM

It's Chomsky by an impossibly wide and huge margin. He won't be around much longer. He's recovering from a stroke and the public statements have been optimistic but I don't buy it. He hasn't made a public statement in over a year, I think. We've never needed him more. Tragic.

by Anonymousreply 46October 1, 2024 11:58 PM

47 responses in and no

Yogi Berra ??

by Anonymousreply 47October 2, 2024 12:03 AM

R46 disclaimer - i'm sickened and ashamed but admit guilt and full responsibility for using the phrase 'public statement' twice back to back. datalounge demands the highest standard of writing and i accept all legal consequences.

by Anonymousreply 48October 2, 2024 12:03 AM

John Searle

by Anonymousreply 49October 2, 2024 12:04 AM

Wait, Yogi Berra is dead.

by Anonymousreply 50October 2, 2024 12:17 AM

My husband, who is 86, took a class with Chomsky when he was a grad student at MIT. Also one with Baba Ram Dass.

by Anonymousreply 51October 2, 2024 12:19 AM

R51 my stepdad claims to have taken ted k's math class at berkeley. the years line up but he lies about everything so i don't really believe it. just like how he fucked janis joplin. what a thing to brag about.

by Anonymousreply 52October 2, 2024 12:26 AM

And I took a class with Immanuel Kant!

by Anonymousreply 53October 2, 2024 12:29 AM

"Ayn Rand is neither American nor a philosopher."

She was American enough to cash those social security checks from Uncle Sam, though, wasn't she?

by Anonymousreply 54October 2, 2024 12:34 AM

Robert Greene. He's a brilliant writer, too.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 55October 2, 2024 12:40 AM

Sam Harris.

Though I don't think he calls himself a philosopher.

by Anonymousreply 56October 2, 2024 1:01 AM

R46: I miss seeing Chomsky. He was very generous with his time, granting interviews in recent years even to obscure YouTube channels with a few thousand subscribers.

by Anonymousreply 57October 2, 2024 3:28 AM

R56 Sugar Don't Bite

by Anonymousreply 58October 2, 2024 3:32 AM

John Rawls was far superior to all these.

by Anonymousreply 59October 2, 2024 4:33 AM

r59 I'm a great admirer of John Rawls as well. His work on Fairness and justice is very fine.

by Anonymousreply 60October 2, 2024 6:43 AM

Ayn Rand is most certainly a philosopher. You see this is why people do not like the left. Just because you don’t agree with that bitch does not mean she isn’t a philosopher. And I don’t agree with her either. And she also was an American citizen so you aren’t even as smart as you think.

by Anonymousreply 61October 2, 2024 7:15 AM

not Butler.

by Anonymousreply 62October 2, 2024 7:24 AM

She was a novelist, and not dealingon the plane of reality.

by Anonymousreply 63October 2, 2024 9:34 AM

I’d add Elizabeth Grosz. Though she was born and raised in Australia (where she also taught until about the mid-1990s), the bulk of her work has been produced within the American academic world. She may even have US citizenship.

Whatever he nationality, she’s certainly one of the greatest philosophers working in the US at the moment.

by Anonymousreply 64October 2, 2024 10:32 AM

Joe Rogan. Certainly the most influential. And he’s someone the country truly deserves.

by Anonymousreply 65October 2, 2024 4:05 PM

Not my country.

by Anonymousreply 66October 3, 2024 1:47 AM

Thanks for that insightful contribution, r66.

by Anonymousreply 67October 3, 2024 11:27 AM

Susan Sontag

by Anonymousreply 68October 3, 2024 11:52 AM

Andy Cohen.

by Anonymousreply 69October 3, 2024 1:54 PM

Moi

by Anonymousreply 70October 3, 2024 2:07 PM

Yes, this is THE place for Miami’s intelligentsia.

by Anonymousreply 71October 3, 2024 2:09 PM

Judith Butler is directly responsible for Gen Z not knowing what a woman is.

by Anonymousreply 72October 3, 2024 2:21 PM

Julianne Moore, seriously.

by Anonymousreply 73October 3, 2024 2:33 PM

Cheryl. But unfortunately what she espouses stinks!

by Anonymousreply 74October 3, 2024 2:34 PM

This remains the best takedown of Butler.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 75October 3, 2024 2:34 PM

Assuming you're equating "greatest" to "influential" vs. some abstract notion of quality or degree of insight or some such, Graham Priest, Saul Kripke, Alvin Plantinga, Peter Singer, and Peter Van Inwagen would all be named in discussion on greatest living philosphers (assuming they're all still alive - I haven't really checked on that recently).

Kripke is probably the most influential living philospher when it comes to metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language.

by Anonymousreply 76October 3, 2024 3:18 PM

I missed the "living " part.

yes, Chompsky

by Anonymousreply 77October 3, 2024 3:19 PM

Harlan Crow

by Anonymousreply 78October 5, 2024 12:13 AM

Joel Osteen!

by Anonymousreply 79October 6, 2024 1:47 AM
Loading
Need more help? Click Here.

Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.

×

Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!