Do philosphers have any impact on society?

[DMB]

There are plenty of amazingly brilliant philosophers around (as well as some dead losses). But do any of them really have any effect on the way human societies are run?

[BWE]

yes.

[DMB]

yes.

Would you care to expand on that?

[BWE]

John Locke made individual liberty into a supported ideal which the American colonists turned into the constitution.

[Ray Moscow]

John Locke made individual liberty into a supported ideal which the American colonists turned into the constitution.

Yes, Locke is the one I would have picked as an example, too.

His essays are still good reading.

[DMB]

But don't you thnk Locke had any precursors? Yes, he was a great thinker, but some of those ideas were kicking around in England, because as far as I can see there has always been a bolshy strain in the English.

[Ray Moscow]

Locke had a great many precursors. It seems to me that much of his work was overturning the assumptions that Plato made about mind and which most people had accepted, up to that point.

[BWE]

But don't you thnk Locke had any precursors? Yes, he was a great thinker, but some of those ideas were kicking around in England, because as far as I can see there has always been a bolshy strain in the English.

:)
Spoken like a ... well, ... I don't know. Yes Locke had precursors. Notably Hobbes and Descartes but Francis Bacon introduced some ideas just a little earlier that had a bit to do too. Although, technically, Bacon wasn't exactly a philosopher.

[BWE]

ETA: Each of whom influenced the world some.

[BWE]

Yes, Locke is the one I would have picked as an example, too.

His essays are still good reading.

If you are a masochist.
:)

I might say they are full of good ideas. The tabula rasa is one of the most important ideas to understanding people and systems anyone ever devised. To think it was a new idea is odd.

[Danhalen]

I might say they are full of good ideas. The tabula rasa is one of the most important ideas to understanding people and systems anyone ever devised. To think it was a new idea is odd.I still find it odd we attribute tabula rasa to Locke even though he never even used the phrase. I'm pretty sure he said the mind was like a blank piece of paper.

Any way, to the OP: yes, philosophers definitely have had an impact on the world. Think of Rudolf Carnap (and the rest of the Vienna Circle) and the way science is done. Think of John Dewey and how education is done. Think of Jacques Derrida and how literature is studied. The impact of philosophers is quite large. I could provide some more esoteric examples, but I thought these guys were more of what you were looking for.

[BWE]

I still find it odd we attribute tabula rasa to Locke even though he never even used the phrase. I'm pretty sure he said the mind was like a blank piece of paper.

Any way, to the OP: yes, philosophers definitely have had an impact on the world. Think of Rudolf Carnap (and the rest of the Vienna Circle) and the way science is done. Think of John Dewey and how education is done. Think of Jacques Derrida and how literature is studied. The impact of philosophers is quite large. I could provide some more esoteric examples, but I thought these guys were more of what you were looking for.

Well, it wasn't his idea even. I forget where it first originated, I read once but I don;t know where. But it was Locke who turned it into a methodology for learning and put individual liberty on a logical footing so that denying liberty became something that required justification. Before Locke, it wasn't so much of a thing.

I think.

I wasn't there.

[Jobar]

Since philosophy deal with the very highest levels of abstraction, it can be hard to see how the ideas of a particular philosopher 'trickle down' into the lives of common men.

I think that Einstein was at least as much philosopher as scientist; and look at how his work has influenced our world.

[Preno]

Any way, to the OP: yes, philosophers definitely have had an impact on the world. Think of Rudolf Carnap (and the rest of the Vienna Circle) and the way science is done.I'm not aware of the Vienna Circle having a significant impact on the way science is done. Can you give an example of what kind of impact you have in mind?

[Danhalen]

Any way, to the OP: yes, philosophers definitely have had an impact on the world. Think of Rudolf Carnap (and the rest of the Vienna Circle) and the way science is done.I'm not aware of the Vienna Circle having a significant impact on the way science is done. Can you give an example of what kind of impact you have in mind?I'm thinking of how "they sought to account for the presuppositions of scientific theories by regimenting such theories within a logical framework so that the important role played by conventions, either in the form of definitions or of other analytical framework principles, became evident." (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vienna-circle/)

[Preno]

Yeah, so how did that change "the way science is done"?

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of scientists hasn't even read Carnap.

[JamesBannon]

I would have picked Locke, Hume and Adam Smith, although the latter is frequently abused by his so-called supporters.

[Danhalen]

Yeah, so how did that change "the way science is done"?

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of scientists hasn't even read Carnap.Perhaps my statement was a bit strong. But I will say justifying the presuppositions of science in empirical observations which are then reducible to logical formulation allows the practitioner to disregard metaphysics as a justification.

Whether or not scientists read Carnap is irrelevant.

[Preno]

Yeah, so how did that change "the way science is done"?

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of scientists hasn't even read Carnap.Perhaps my statement was a bit strong. But I will say justifying the presuppositions of science in empirical observations which are then reducible to logical formulation allows the practitioner to disregard metaphysics as a justification.Maybe so, but in and of itself that doesn't make a iota of difference for the practice of science.

[Berthold]

Just for impact (not evaluating in which proportions it was good or evil):

Karl Marx, of course.

[Hex]

Well, how about contemporary philosophers?

Do you have to wait for 50 years to have an impact? Are there any philosophers that we should be watching?

[jaywalker]

Kant said you should always tell the truth even if that meant pointing out a victim to his would be murder. Descartes thought that animals,having no souls ,can feel no pain.He was amazed that they can counterfeit pain. Filiosofers ? I've Sh#t 'em.

[Ray Moscow]

Well, how about contemporary philosophers?

Do you have to wait for 50 years to have an impact? Are there any philosophers that we should be watching?

Well, I like Daniel Dennett and recommend his books.

[Monad]

Karl Marx, of course.

Absolutely :notworthy: