On Philosophy

100 Thinkers that have inspired me:
(not in any order)


1. Elie Wiesel - Excellent analysis if human condition
2. St. Augustine - Confessions rather than City of God.
3. Soren Kierkegaard - Leap of Faith concept
4. Fydor Dostoyevsky - especially Brothers Karamazov
5. Carl Jung - work on Archetypes
6. Erich Fromm - Art of Loving writer
7. Aryeh Kaplan - Synthesis of Science and Modern Judaism
8. Paul Johnson - Philosopher, Historian.
9. Barbara Tuchman - Excellent Historian
10. Fred Hoyle - Radical Astronomer
11. Kurt Godel - Tackled the fundamentals of Mathematics
12. Albert Einstein - needs no introduction
13. Fritz Perls - One of the fathers of Gestalt
14. Rene Descartes - More for his work on Analytical Geometry than Sceptism
15. Isaac Newton - Father of Modern Physics
16. George Berkley - Idealist Philosopher
17. Daniel K. Lewis - Champion of Many Worlds Hypothesis
19. Carl Sagan - Father of SETI. Champion of Science.
20. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto - Author of the Way of God - Jewish Thinker
21. Maimonides - Author. Jewish Philosopher. Guide to the Perplexed. Talmudic Organization.
22. David Horowitz - Author of Radical Son - excellent critique of the Left
23. Lee Smolin - One of the most creative minds in Physics today
24. Alain de Botton - Popularizer of Philosophy
25. The Author of the Psalms (David)
26. Conor Cruise O'Brian - Irish Writer. Provided an excellent analysis of the Middle East.
27. Dennis Prager - Conservative writer
28. Deborah Lipstadt - Historian of the Holocaust. Nemesis of David Irving.
29. Thomas Sowell - Modern American Philosopher/Writer.
30. La Rochefoucald- Author of Maxims
31. Friederich Nietzche - Didn't agree with his moral relativism but his aphorisms are brilliant.
32. CS Lewis - Writer and Religious Thinker
33. Franz Kafka - One of the most original thinkers of the 20th century.
34. Patrick Moore - Popularizer of Astronomy.
35. Galileo - Genius personified.
36. Socrates - For introducing his questioning method the basis of most succesful pedagogy.
37. Lev Vygotzky - Educator and Philosopher
38. Marie Curie - Physicist and Chemist
39. Theodore Herzl - Father of Modern Day Zionism
40. Martin Gilbert - Arguably the greatest Historian of the Modern Era
41. Johan Wolfgang van Goethe - For his study of Human ambition in Faust
42. Jules Verne - Father of Modern Science Fiction
43. Archimedes - Greatest Scientific Mind of his time.
44. Charles Fort - For his attack on the dogma of Science.
45. John Stuart Mills - Author of On Liberty - A true Democrat
46. Winston Churchill - Greatest PM Britain has ever had. Wondeful Historian.
47. Thomas Jefferson - For his understanding of Democracy
48. Edmund Burke - Father of Conservatism
49. Samuel Johnson - One of the Greatest wits of All-Time
50. Alfred Wallace - Underrated Champion of Evolution by Natural Selection
51. Florence Nightingale - Mother of Modern Nursing
52. Abraham Lincoln - Greatest US President of all-Time
53. Adam Smith - Father of Modern Economics
54. Charles de Montesquieu - French Democratic Thinker
55. Alan Guth - Father of the Inflationary Universe Theory
56. Mary Shelley - Author of Frankenstein. Excellent Scientific critique.
57. Robert Louis Stevenson - Fiction writer. Author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped etc.
58. George Lemaitre - Father of Big Bang Theory
59. Niels Bohr - Physicist. Leading figure in Quantum Mechanics.
60. Edgar Alan Poe - Greatest Horror Writer of All-Time
61. Ibn Khaladun - Influential Arab Philosopher.
62. Siddhartha - Buddhist thinker - For coming up with the Middle Way.
63. Aristotle - Provided the Grounding for Western Philophy
64. Gottfried Leibniz - Philosopher/Mathematician.
65. Erwin Schrodinger - Cats aside - First rate Theoretical Physicist.
66. Roger Penrose - One of the most competent minds alive today.
67. Francis Collins - Head of the Human Genome Project
68. Louis Pasteur - Father of Microbiology
69. Omar Khayyam - Persian Poet, Philosopher, Mathematician
70. Golda Meir - Israeli Prime Minister
71. George Eliot - English Writer
72. Abraham - Father of Ethical Monotheism
73. Friederich Gauss - One of the Greatest Mathematicians ever
74. Thomas Kuhn - Philosopher of Science
75. Alan Sokal - For de-bunking Post Modernism
76. Efraim Karsh - Middle Eastern Historian
77. Benoit Mandelbrot - Mathematician - Worked on Fractals.
78. Ray Kurzweil - Computer-Linguist and Technology advocate
78. Alan Bloom - Author of the Closing of the American Mind
79. William Buckley - Conservative Thinker
80. Mark Twain - American writer and wit.
81. Ambrose Bierce - American cynic and wit
82. Raoul Wallenberg - Swedish diplomat saved many lives during the Holocaust
83. Hannah Arendt - German/Jewish Philosopher - critique of Totaliterianism
84. George Will - American writer
85. Max Planck - Father of Quantum Mechanics
86. Jonas Salk - Developed Polio vaccine
87. Mother Theresa - No introduction either
88. Walter Lacquer - Jewish Historian
89. Alan Dershowitz - Legal Thinker, Political and Social Commentor
90. Oscar Wilde - Wit and Playwright
91. Isaac Asimov - Science Fiction writer, Popularizer of Science and Academics.
92. Moses - No Intro needed here.
93. Milton Friedman - Monetarist Economist
94. Menachem Begin - Israeli Prime Minister
95. Neil Simon - Playwright
96. Martin Luther King - Civil Rights Leader
97. HG Wells - Futurist
98. Baruch Spinoza - Renaissance Philosopher
99. Vladmir Jabotinsky - Revisionist Zionist
100. Hillel - Ancient Jewish Thinker - speciality: Ethics