But a reader alerted me to a site that allows one to construct Condorcet polls, which are much more informative than the first-past-the-post polls we ran last week. So here is it is: Who is the most important philosopher of the past 200 years? 53 choices, and you can rank them (or express "no opinion"). 53 is the default rank, you must choose 'no opinion' if you don't want to penalize a philosopher's ranking. Have fun!
UPDATE: So with 300 votes cast, here are the results so far:
| 1. Ludwig Wittgenstein (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices) |
| 2. Gottlob Frege loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 156–98 |
| 3. Bertrand Russell loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 172–90, loses to Gottlob Frege by 129–108 |
| 4. John Stuart Mill loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 171–77, loses to Bertrand Russell by 137–103 |
| 5. Friedrich Nietzsche loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 170–82, loses to John Stuart Mill by 120–119 |
| 6. W.V.O. Quine loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 185–74, loses to Friedrich Nietzsche by 129–120 |
| 7. G.W.F. Hegel loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 188–55, loses to W.V.O. Quine by 130–110 |
| 8. Karl Marx loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 195–50, loses to G.W.F. Hegel by 123–89 |
| 9. David K. Lewis loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 186–63, loses to Karl Marx by 109–107 |
| 10. Saul Kripke loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 194–53, loses to David K. Lewis by 113–92 |
| 11. John Rawls loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 205–48, loses to Saul Kripke by 115–107 |
| 12. Rudolf Carnap loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 199–46, loses to John Rawls by 116–102 |
| 13. G.E. Moore loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 208–40, loses to Rudolf Carnap by 101–99 |
| 14. Donald Davidson loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 214–28, loses to G.E. Moore by 121–82 |
| 15. Martin Heidegger loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 205–37, loses to Donald Davidson by 111–109 |
| 16. Edmund Husserl loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 210–29, loses to Martin Heidegger by 110–84 |
| 17. William James loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 217–26, loses to Edmund Husserl by 99–94 |
| 18. Hilary Putnam loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 217–29, loses to William James by 105–102 |
| 19. Charles Sanders Peirce loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 213–22, loses to Hilary Putnam by 95–90 |
| 20. Soren Kierkegaard loses to Ludwig Wittgenstein by 210–24, loses to Charles Sanders Peirce by 85–83 |
Alas, the myopia of the present (and of Anglophone philosophy). Some sociologist should save these results. Marx "loses to Hegel by 123-89." Oh, the indignity!
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