Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

New Group Blog in "Metaphysics"

Here.

Thoughts on the "Greatness" of Russell

Here.

Let's Settle This Once and For All: Who Really Was the Greatest Philosopher of the 20th-Century?

I am prompted to ask this momentous question by an item in The New York Times pronouncing Wittgenstein to be the one.  In order to bring this matter to a close, please vote only once in the following poll; I have listed all reasonable candidates (excluding Frege and Husserl, who are very much products of 19th-century philosophical culture--perhaps the same could be said for Bergson, but...).

ADDENDUM:  I think we'll have a run-off based on the top vote getters in this round, so that we can get a scientifically sound result!

AND ONE MORE:  Dearest readers, this is purely for amusement, no need to e-mail me about the 'order bias' or the composition of the list.  We all know, in advance, the ten or so who are likely to get the most votes.  Feel free to play, or not.

AN APT COMMENT from a reader:  "I actually find these exercises more indicative of what current members of the profession are currently thinking of as central than of any indication of greatness (you might recall that Hume thought Addison was destined to be a greater philosopher than Locke... oh well)."   Someone should tell The New York Times.

[poll closed, see below]

UPDATE:  Unfortunately, the poll has now been linked from sites with lots of non-philosophical readers, which is likely to skew the results in predictable directions.  So here are the results with 712 votes cast, mostly, I suspect, by philosophers.  I admit to being surprised by the strength of the results for Lewis and Rawls (see the APT COMMENT, above), and not surprised, though equally skeptical on the merits, with regard to the strength of the results for Heidegger.  (Sorry about the annoying ad, somehow I copied that code, and now I can't get it out without destroying the rest of the results.)

Ludwig Wittgenstein  17% 123 Martin Heidegger  9% 61 Jean-Paul Sartre  2% 16 David K. Lewis  16% 114 Saul Kripke  3% 20 Rudolf Carnap  2% 11 Jurgen Habermas  1% 4 Bertrand Russell  15% 107 Hans-Georg Gadamer  0% 0 W.V.O. Quine  8% 57 John Rawls  9% 67 Wilfrid Sellars  2% 12 Richard Rorty  1% 4 Donald Davidson  1% 8 C.I. Lewis  0% 2 John Dewey  2% 14 Ernst Cassirer  0% 1 Bernard Williams  2% 15 Michel Foucault  3% 19 Theodor Adorno  0% 3 Gilles Deleuze  1% 4 Maurice Merleau-Ponty  1% 4 G.E. Moore  1% 7 Alfred Tarski  1% 5 Alfred North Whitehead  0% 3 Henri Bergson  0% 1 Hilary Putnam  1% 6 Michael Dummett  0% 1 P.F. Strawson  0% 3 Karl Popper  3% 20 712 votes total pollcode.com free polls

THE FINAL TALLY:  With over 1200 votes, but many now coming from all over Cyberspace, I've decided to shut this down.  The final results; make of them what you will.

Ludwig Wittgenstein	17%	206
Martin Heidegger	10%	124
Jean-Paul Sartre	2%	28
David K. Lewis	12%	147
Saul Kripke	2%	30
Rudolf Carnap	2%	21
Jurgen Habermas	1%	10
Bertrand Russell	16%	200
Hans-Georg Gadamer	0%	4
W.V.O. Quine	8%	96
John Rawls	8%	101
Wilfrid Sellars	1%	17
Richard Rorty	1%	8
Donald Davidson	1%	12
C.I. Lewis	0%	3
John Dewey	2%	27
Ernst Cassirer	0%	4
Bernard Williams	2%	24
Michel Foucault	3%	39
Theodor Adorno	1%	13
Gilles Deleuze	1%	9
Maurice Merleau-Ponty	1%	7
G.E. Moore	1%	14
Alfred Tarski	1%	11
Alfred North Whitehead	0%	5
Henri Bergson	0%	6
Hilary Putnam	1%	11
Michael Dummett	0%	1
P.F. Strawson	0%	6
Karl Popper	3%	35
1,219 votes total

Traffic on This Blog Has Increased Dramatically...

...in the last two months, and I'm not quite sure why.  It began in early January, and then, I think, it was due to previews of the now-published PGR.  But it lasted beyond that, and continued to increase in February.  Clearly the discussion of the petition to the APA, and now the counter-petition, has been a factor.  But January and February were at levels of traffic (average 8,000 hits per day) usually not seen except in April right before decision time for PhD students).  I'll be interested to see whether it lasts.