The 10 Greatest Philosophers in History

Listverse recently posted it’s list of the 10 Greatest Philosophers in History. Trying to sift through all of the great thinkers of the world and come up with a list of the top 10  is a tall order.  But, here’s what they came up with.

10.  John Locke

9.  Epicurus

8.  Zeno

7.  Avicenna

6.  Thomas Aquinas

5.  Confucius

4.  Descartes

3.  Paul of Tarsus

2.  Plato

1.  Aristotle

The challenge, of course, is to try and understand what they mean by “greatest.” And, there is certainly lots of room for debate on who they chose and how they ordered it. At the very least, I think I would pick a bone with including Zeno and Epicurus over people like Parmenides and Seneca, and the complete neglect of modern philosophers.  But, it was interesting nonetheless.

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About Marc Cortez

Theology Prof and Dean at Western Seminary, husband, father, & blogger, who loves theology, church history, ministry, pop culture, books, and life in general.

Posted on February 25, 2011, in Philosophical Theology. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.

  1. Too bad Jesus or Thomas Jefferson didn’t make the list.

  2. It’s no fair with Jesus, the God-Man would seem to be a category unto himself 😉 .

  3. Add: Nietzsche and Kant

    Remove: Avicenna and Paul

  1. Pingback: Not a Fan of Plato, Aquinas, or Barth? | Political Jesus

  2. Pingback: Devil is waiting! « Flickr Comments

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