Favorite philosopher?

[TheHolySword]

For those who are into philosophy do you have a favorite philosopher or philosophy? Or is there one that resonates with you more than others?

For a long time I always loved the mind of Nietzsche. I wanted to always have hope and believe in a better world. His aestheticism, existentialism, and anti-nihilistic viewpoints always made me feel a bit better in a way. It really helped me to understand life and cemented my beliefs for a long time.

Though within the past year I have grown really fond of Arthur Schopenhauer. This may be because I am in a downward spiral quickly crashing and I have decided to ctb but still his writings make me feel a way that I've never really felt. His words have reached me at my lowest and I feel seen and heard and understood. His teachings have relaxed my attitude about death and have helped me to feel more at peace about my decisions.

I'd love to hear some of your thoughts!

 

[outatime_85]

I do not have a favorite philosopher.

Currently, I am reading Immanuel Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics.

I have some of Nietzsche's works, and some Schopenhauer as well as other philosophical works.

 

[TransilvanianHunger]

Well, my profile picture betrays my philosophical bias :)

I find Nietzsche quite interesting as well, especially when he criticises Schopenhauer—I read his arguments with an open mind, and I do agree with him on a handful of points, but he's not managed to convince me to join the Say-Yes-To-Life, Eternal-Return side of things, and so I remain more closely aligned with Schopenhauer than with anyone else I've read.

Sure, Schopenhauer championed the contemplative, aesthetic, will-denying life partly because he struggled to cope with his own drives. Here, I agree with Nietzsche—the ascetic life is one of cruelty directed inwards, and "denial of the will" often ends up as will-towards-nothingness rather than true non-willing. But I think it's rather unfair to judge Schopenhauer's philosophy by how well the man managed to adhere to it in his own life. Nietzsche's philosophy would not fare much better, if that were the case. I know his thoughts were way more nuanced than this, but at times I feel like Schopenhauer's pessimism simply became too much for Nietzsche at some point, and he went in the opposite direction as a means of self-preservation.

So, yes. Pessimism all the way for me.

 

[avalokitesvara]

Western philosophy: Spinoza
Eastern philosophy: Dogen Zenji

 

[Trex]

mine is Ramanuja and Vedanta Desika

 

[_AllCatsAreGrey_]

Gilles Deleuze

 

[moonlight gate]

Friedrich Nietzsche
Jiddu Krischnamurti

 

[33-vertebrae]

Emil Cioran

 

[Blue Dream]

Diogenes the Cynic

 

[paredler]

Hobjaguella Cohen