Your Philosopher of Choice is ...

[pablocham]

I'll try to scare off the silence for a minute. It has been a few years, but as far as post-classical Latin goes, Tertullian is pretty readable, he is at least as readable as Augustine. The inflammatory things he says help to keep the interest too. All the early Christian writers are fun to read because they were at once so heavily indebted to the pagan writers and deeply ashamed of that very indebtedness. As Jerome's dream had it, 'Ciceronianus es, non Christianus."

As long as we are talking about the ancients, I can't believe that nobody has said anything about Plato or Socrates. You guys must have had really bad teachers. I don't know to whom it is more indebted, or whose thought it represents more accurately, but the Apology is my favorite work of philosophy or of almost anything else for that matter.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Very interesting.

I just read about Montanism and how it closely resembles The Pentecostal churches of today in that they believed that The Spirit of God should guide the church directly, as opposed to "the church of a lot of bishops" as Tertullian refered to The Orthodox Church at that time.
Tertullian could then indeed be considered one of the first protestants.

 

[Harp]

I'll try to scare off the silence for a minute. It has been a few years, but as far as post-classical Latin goes, Tertullian is pretty readable, he is at least as readable as Augustine. The inflammatory things he says help to keep the interest too. All the early Christian writers are fun to read because they were at once so heavily indebted to the pagan writers and deeply ashamed of that very indebtedness. As Jerome's dream had it, 'Ciceronianus es, non Christianus."

As long as we are talking about the ancients, I can't believe that nobody has said anything about Plato or Socrates. You guys must have had really bad teachers. I don't know to whom it is more indebted, or whose thought it represents more accurately, but the Apology is my favorite work of philosophy or of almost anything else for that matter.

I fully concur with your Greek estimate.fftopic: I once had a studio
apartment in Piraeus, which offered a rooftop view of the Acropolis,
a great place to read 'The Apology.'

 

[pablocham]

That must have been incredible. I need to get out there. I worked in Italy for a while, but I never made it to Greece. I need to get something in the works on that.

 

[Harp]

Greece

Even Hawaii did not move me as much as Greece; especially Athens,
and the waterfront beach area around Piraeus was heaven. Go there,
and enjoy yourself, read, and drink everything but Ouzo. Even
Socrates would have preferred hemlock to Ouzo's headache.lol

 

[pablocham]

I used to really like Seneca, but I can understand why many people don't. He is really quotable and fun to read, but kind of condescending and certainly a hypocrite. Tacitus' account of his suicide is very moving. But, I never knew what to make of it when juxtaposed with the mock suicide of Petronius Arbiter in the same book.

 

[pablocham]

everybody seems to say that about the ouzo.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Which is why I stick to absinthe. (Not the Czech kind!)

.

 

[Samsa]

And what do our other Loungers think of Tertullian? It's oddly quiet in here.


.

I just know that he was a heretic; I haven't studied any of his works.

As to the original question, I would have to say that my favorite philosopher (as well as theologian) is St. Thomas Aquinas.

 

[pablocham]

I am surprised not only at how many people have chosen religious figures, but also that none of them has mentioned St. Paul or Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes goes right after The Apology on my list. So, where are all the lovers of St. Paul?

 

[Benny Holiday]

Jesus Christ, and I also enjoy reading K'ung-fu-tzu (Confucius)

Jesus' teachings strove to turn people away from outward ceremonies, traditions and rituals and emphasised that what really matters comes from the heart. He spoke with kindness and compassion, and used story illustrations that people could easily relate to when talking to them. He revolutionised the common view of His day of God as an authoritarian figure always ready to punish and condemn, and instead presented God as a loving Father who longed to bless His children in every way.

Confucius wrote and spoke about themes of political and personal ethics. His ideal was that rulers should be given posts according to merit, and not through hereditary power, and that authorities should be virtuous and dedicated to the welfare of the people. He was a strong advocate of doing what was right and moral, and that people should strive to live in harmony with one another, emphasising kindness and empathy with others as the keys to individuals being able to treat others as they themselves wished to be treated.

 

[scotrace]

Rick Blaine.

 

[raiderrescuer]

Teddy Roosevelt...

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far"

"It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself."

If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful."

"The worst of all fears is the fear of living."

"This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in."

"There are two things that I want you to make up your minds to: first, that you are going to have a good time as long as you live - I have no use for the sour-faced man - and next, that you are going to do something worthwhile, that you are going to work hard and do the things you set out to do."

"There are good men and bad men of all nationalities, creeds and colors; and if this world of ours is ever to become what we hope some day it may become, it must be by the general recognition that the man's heart and soul, the man's worth and actions, determine his standing."

"Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground."

 

[Harp]

Paul

The Pauline epistles reveal a more complex individual than generally
assumed: Philippi and Thessalonikki were the first Christian
communities in Europe and a challenge for the titular Pauline
bishopric. Paul himself, however, did not write so much as a philosopher,
but as an evangelist, at once converted; yet inwardly conflicted,
though more resolute than Peter, with whom he would meet martyrdom.

 

[Briscoeteque]

Martin Buber and Friedrich Nietzsche, though I often find that the 2nd carries an unfortuneate stigma, people think 'proto-nazi' or 'clueless quasi-intellectual rebel', both people Nietzsche despised more than anything.

 

[CharlieH.]

Groucho Marx.

 

[Phobic]

I'd go with Kierkegaard, because he is so absurd.

Although i also enjoy Epictetus quite a bit.

 

[johnnydnh]

My Personal Favorite

Hiya folks.
Ya say ya lost your job today?
Ya say its 4 A.M. and your kids ain't home from school yet?
Ya say your wife went out for a corned beef sandwich last weekend - the corned beef sandwich came back but she didn't?
Ya say your furniture is out all over the sidewalk 'cause ya can't pay the rent and ya got chapped lips and paper cuts and your feets all
swollen up and blistered from pounding the pavement looking for work?
Is that what's troubling ya fellow?

REFRAIN

Well lift your head up high and take a walk in the sun with dignity and stick-to-it-ness and ya show the world, ya show the world where to get off. You'll never give up, never give up, never give up... that ship!

Hey there, cousin. Ya say ya can't pull your car out of the mud and you're in the middle of nowhere and it's pouring rain and ya ca'nt get the top back up and your paycheck's all blurred and your foot went right through the gas and your girls screaming bloody murder she's scared of the dark and a stroke of lightning splits your motor in half and your suits shrinking up fast and ya start up the windy road on foot and sixty yards of barbed wire hits ya right smack in the puss and ya both fall down in the mud and then a wild animal comes over and runs away with your shoes and your car blows up suddenly and your windshield-wiper ends up in your mouth and ya can't move and the muds rising up to your nostrils and you're sinking fast and ya don't hear your girl screaming anymore? Is that what's on your mind, cousin?

Refrain

Hey there friend. Ya say your radiators never worked all winter and now that it's summer they started up again and ya can't turn them off? Ya say your wife sent your light weight suits to the cleaners and that means you'll have to wear your itchy tweeds this morning when they say it'll hit 106 and ya gotta meet an important business man in an hour and your bridge just broke and ya pasted it together with bubble gum and ya hope it don't fall apart while you're doing some fast talking to this man? And - and your shoelace just busted and ya opened a big cut on your cheek trying to even out your sideburns and your daughter's going out with a convict and your wife just confessed she gave your last sixty dollars as a deposit on an air plane hanger? Is that what's troubling ya, friend?

Refrain

Eddie "The Old Philospher" Lawrence

 

[skinnychik]

Hmmm...does Charles Darwin count? Perhaps the more modern version Jared Diamond of Guns, Germs, and Steel. It changed my philosophy, anyway. Mark Twian had quite a few interesting observations on life and humanity as well.

I like rairerrescue's Teddy Roosevelt too...and maybe add John Muir to that.

 

[Polyhistor]

To speak with Horace, I´m a piglet of the Epicurean herd.