Korean Job Discussion Forums

[joelove]

I'm sure some of you well read people here have a few thinkers you like. I'm not really big on philosophy, a word which people react to, but then I guess poems, novels, stories and the rest of literature contain some philosophy, as we all think too much. Lately I've watched some J. Krishnamurti videos on the youtube. I'd say he made me think a lot. Used to read his books long ago.

Who do you like?

[Lucas]

Harry Potter

[FMPJ]

Gilles Deleuze

[Ralph Winfield]

Hume, Locke, Berkeley, Dewey, Nietzsche, and Sellars.

[schwa]

Krishnamurti, good call. All his writings & talks are deeply stimulating. He never imposed his views, but challenges you to question yours.

Rumi. Introspection mixed with humor & joy. Coleman Barks's translations are excellent.

One more. Laozi:

"When goodness is lost, it is replaced by morality."

"The usefulness of a pot comes from its emptiness."

"The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to the Way."

"When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad."

“Try to change it and you will ruin it. Try to hold it and you will lose it.”

[metalhead]

I think we should focus on Western philosophers, not nonsense spiritual yoga dudes.

I like Frege and Russell.

Frege because his puzzles are whack, and Russell because he is not only an easy read, but a good one of course, he also pre-dated Hitchens and Dawkins with the whole convincing atheist argument thing.

[Fox]

[schwa]

[cdninkorea]

Ayn Rand is the philosopher who most influenced me in terms of the values I hold and the way I live. I don't expect that this will be a popular opinion, but since you (the OP) asked...

[le-paul]

Alain de Botton and James Hetfield

'It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as they do.'

Alain de Botton

'The Arab-Israeli conflict is also in many ways a conflict about status: it's a war between two peoples who feel deeply humiliated by the other, who want the other to respect them. Battles over status can be even more intractable than those over land or water or oil.'

Alain de Botton

'I like a women who's got some balls, some strength. As long as I can beat her at arm wrestling, that's fine.'

James Hetfield

[joelove]

[Gravity Wins]

Camus and Sartre

[metalhead]

Maybe it would be wise to start saying why we like these philosophers, recommend some readings etc because list threads are useless and stupid.

[joelove]

I agree there's not much point just saying "I like so and so" for some reason. It's just that we find something we like, but maybe we can find other stuff we like, you know, broaden our horizons I guess.

I only mentioned one thinker. I like his approach because I found it in a library many years ago and it was interesting for me, and it continues after many years to seem significant I suppose. Pretty much all the texts are online, and lots of videos, which are interesting for me. Even a forum for discussing what he said and related stuff. Seems a bit limiting to go with just one thinker that way, and that's not the intention, but it is really far-reaching stuff, in my opinion. Others might dismiss it as simplistic or approach it with a view that it is mystical or something. That's a surface view. There is clearly, to me anyway, a lot more behind it all. And it seems based in facts, whether or not the reader or listener sees that is a different matter.

[Smithington]

I have to go with Dubya and say Jesus.