Most popular Philosophers

[Geeko Sportivo]

I am aware of the plays he wrote, but have never seen his philosophical writing. Can you cite something?

See how many of these you recognize!

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/

[BidenPresident]

See how many of these you recognize!

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/

Topic of thread is philosophy and philosophers.

[Cypress]

I was mentioning some of the many accomplishments of Leibniz for people who have no idea who he is.
Not knowing who someone is does not mean they are not influential.

Descartes and Liebniz were polymaths who made indispensable contributions to mathematics as well as philosophy.

The title of your thread is "most popular philosophers"

The population of western Europe was always at least five or ten times smaller than East Asia, and I'm almost certain more people have read Confucious and heard of him than Liebniz or Kant, strictly on a head count basis..

[BidenPresident]

Descartes and Liebniz were polymaths who made indispensable contributions to mathematics as well as philosophy.

Leibniz invented the idea of possible worlds. Very influential in contemporary logic and the philosophy of language.

[Cypress]

Leibniz invented the idea of possible worlds. Very influential in contemporary logic and the philosophy of language.

I think he belongs in the pantheon of eminent philosophers.

But going by the criteria in your thread title, 'most popular', I'm looking at it strictly from a head count perspective. There are two and a half billion people in East and South Asia, compared to 200 million in western Europe and 300 million in North America.

I would tend to assume the top five most popular or well known philosophers on a head count basis are all Asian: I would submit Gandhi, Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and Zhuangzi as nominees.

[BidenPresident]

I think he belongs in the pantheon of eminent philosophers.

But going by the criteria in your thread title, 'most popular', I'm looking at it strictly from a head count perspective. There are two and a half billion people in East and South Asia, compared to 200 million in western Europe and 300 million in North America.

I would tend to assume the top five most popular or well known philosophers on a head count basis are all Asian: I would submit Gandhi, Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and Zhuangzi as nominees.

Gandhi was not a philosopher.