Top 10 Philosophers You Need to Know

10 philosophers you need to know if you want to engage with the world today - we're talking politics, race, trans rights, ethics metaphysics, art, culture, and more!

Twitter: @PhilosophyTube

Recommended Reading:
Giorgio Agamben, "State of Exception"
Falguni Sheth, "Toward A Political Philosophy of Race"
Simone de Beauvoir, "The Second Sex"
Davis Lewis, "On the Plurality of Worlds"
Karl Marx, "Das Kapital"
Elizabeth Ashford, "The Nature of our Duties Towards the Chronically Poor"
Jeff McMahan, "The Ethics of Killing"

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[Sardonac]

Commenters: take note that the video isn't about the top ten philosophers full stop. It's ten philosophers for engaging the modern world. Of course Plato isn't mentioned -- there's plenty better than Plato for engaging the issues of today. Of course this doesn't mean Plato and the rest aren't great, just that they're not so clearly crucial to today's issues in the way that philosophers or race, gender, and political theory are.

[kurono]

Comment section:
"No X, Y and Z? what a terrible list, let me tell you why my superior taste is better, I'm a philosopher myself"

[Javaman]

This really surprised me. Seeing this video I thought, oh this is going to be the usual list, Kant, Plato, Descartes, Hume and so on... but wow, only ONE name on this list I had ever even heard of! NEW STUFF! Cool. Thanks for sharing.

Would you make any changes to this list now that about 2 years have gone by?

[MyJourneyConcludes]

Jean Baudrillard - **Simulcra and Simulation** - According to Baudrillard, what has happened in postmodern culture is that our society has become so reliant on models and maps that we have lost all contact with the real world that preceded the map. Reality itself has begun merely to imitate the model, which now precedes and determines the real world.

Inspiration for the philosophy of Ghost in the Shell and Matrix

[dasbuj]

I read Nietzcshe and now I'm just waiting for death.

[Kane]

I'm somewhat surprised you didn't bring up Foucault. I understand that it was probably a massive pain to not include a million names in this video but just out of curiosity, what do you think of his work?

[Cosmic_Hobo]

Frantz Fanon should be on this list for practically being the one who gave us afro pess and black existentialism

[NicholasMoskov]

the right is freaking because he made a video where he talked about his favorite philosophers. And they say that we are sensitive lol

[Nonkosherian]

I am kind of surprised Immanuel Kant did not make the cut as you talk about him a lot in earlier videos. But I see that "issues of today" was probably better for an introduction to Philosophy for the "everyman."

[iananderson]

Surprised at the lack of Wittengstien.

[ramonveracruz]

Huh. That's interesting. Some people in the comments who are anti-feminism and ridicule "SJWs" and joke about "trigger warnings" seem...I don't know...TRIGGERED to respond negatively by just hearing the mention of phrases like "race is a tool" and "feminism."

And Olly, just to make some of the folks in your comments section shut the fuck up about the philosophers they expected/wanted on the list, just make another video called, "TOP 10 Philosophers That You Probably Have Already Heard Of (Unless You're New To Philosophy And To This Channel)." It's obvious that most if not all of your audience knows a good amount about, and of, philosophy and its people, so just make the video as a sort of pacifier that some of them can suck on until you make a new video that they can complain about.

[Hreter]

This is a good list. Thanks for the links!

[mrmarten]

(quote) Here;s my top 10 list, very much personal opinion of course completely influenced who i have happened to have read and probably not exhaustive. (end quote). So as he already said it is his opinion, so question his opinion not his judgment. And I may often not (completely) agree with him, it is still interesting to watch/read.

[allenstory]

Wow! I really enjoy your videos, particularly the way in which you relate the often largely academic nature of philosophy to contemporary, real-world concerns. Excellent channel!

[Notethos]

I appreciate this list a lot thank you!

Since your last books video I've been interested in anarchism, I've also been trying to read John Dewey who according to Chomsky has anarchist themes in his philosophy, I'd enjoy seeing a video on anarchism from you in the future.

[mikeh]

I love it when you add links to what you talk about. It makes my life easier

[tillbrainman]

another great video. thank you for this. jam packed with terse descriptions of many glib schools of thought. a valuable road map to point one's nose in the direction of your way of thinking. and an amazingly revealing insight into your philosophical tendencies. i would suggest an examination of the tendai buddhist concept of the ten worlds. most specifically the 7th world of learning juxtaposed with the 8th world of realization.

[essentialatom]

Here's the inevitable comment about a philosopher you didn't mention! What do you make of Baudrillard? I was half-wondering whether he'd come up.

[katiekidd]

Hi there! I've been finding your videos fascinating! I'm not enrolled at a University or in any secondary education at the moment, but I find it critical that I educate myself with the the plethora of accessible tools that are out there. I recently found a great interest in philosophy in the last year and I would definitely consider myself on the frond end my educational journey in this area. For people like me who use Youtube and other sites like it as a tool for learning, this was a great video as to where I want to direct my attention next. My main point to this comment would be an idea for you. I would consider myself a heavily visual learner and appreciate the platform of video. So what I propose to you is making a video about your top Youtubers that your viewers might find interesting. I would love to see who you would pick. Thank you for making such high quality and well researched videos, I quite enjoy them!

[dorsa]

that was super super useful!! Thank u!