OmgStfuDude t1_izzdrlq wrote on December 12, 2022 at 11:30 PM

Interested in researching more about the Argument from Evil. Specifically, more responses to it (other than soul building and free will theodicies). Edited to add: Looking for recommendations on where to look for such responses.

And if there were to be a big “breakthrough”—for lack of a better term—in philosophy conversations, how would we go about learning about it? How do you determine who the great philosophers of our time are (like who is our Descartes/Plato/any other old philosopher) ?

DirtyOldPanties t1_j02mqdx wrote on December 13, 2022 at 5:18 PM

Great by what standard? I would think the greatest philosophers are the ones who offer something profoundly true. However there are many philosophers who are incredibly successful (despite being wrong), so by that standard they could be considered great for their influence.

OmgStfuDude t1_j02owoz wrote on December 13, 2022 at 5:31 PM

When I say “great” I mean the ones who have offered something that is still being argued.

Elliot Sober, he’s the author of the textbook I had to use for my intro class. Really like his writing style, but I just don’t see him as a great philosopher. I’ve seen him cited a few times across different papers I’ve found, but I wouldn’t group him into a category with Descartes/Hume/Plato— these are people we still talk about, because they had something “big” enough to say.

Does that help clear it up?

FriendofMolly t1_j0arr9l wrote on December 15, 2022 at 7:54 AM

For me the ones that are great are the ones who have stood the test in time and who’s argument can still be held up as logically sound even after all the knowledge we have gained over the passage of time.

Or in shorter terms the philosophers I see as “great” are the ones who’s wisdom still sits higher than any “knowledge” you hold up next to it.