# PHILOSOPHY SYSTEM SELECTOR **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848 "2000-08-02T15:43:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/1 "2000-08-02T15:43:34Z")
The site that has the Beleif System Selector also has a Philosophy Selector (actually it has a ton of them). [http://www.selectsmart.com/PHILOSOPHY](http://www.selectsmart.com/PHILOSOPHY) For me… Frankly, this seems not too accurate for me. Aquinas’ philosophy is much too dependent on God for my taste. TOP FIVE Aquinas (score = 100) Ayn Rand (score = 82) Mill (score = 78) Kant (score = 78) Plato (score = 77) BOTTOM FIVE Prescriptivism (score = 47) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 41) Cynics (score = 37) Hobbes (score = 25) Noddings (score = 14) ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/2 "2000-08-02T15:54:15Z")
My Top Five: Mill (score = 100) Epicureans (score = 89) Aquinas (score = 87) Aristotle (score = 85) Kant (score = 82) My Bottom Five: Noddings (score = 30) Hume (score = 30) Stoics (score = 30) Hobbes (score = 15) Cynics (score = 15) Now, I need to research these philosophies more before I can say how accurate this test is. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/3 "2000-08-02T16:18:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Mill (score = 100) > Kant (score = 99) > Jean Paul Sartre (score = 99) > Epicureans (score = 97) > Bentham (score = 91) > Aquinas (score = 76) > Spinoza (score = 68) > Aristotle (score = 63) > Ayn Rand (score = 62) > Nietzsche (score = 60) > Prescriptivism (score = 59) > Stoics (score = 54) > Noddings (score = 47) > Ockham (score = 44) > Hume (score = 39) > Hobbes (score = 39) > Augustine (score = 36) > Plato (score = 26) > Cynics (score = 19) That’s mostly accurate–judging from what I’ve learned in various classes, as well as the brief summaries of each philosopher, pretty much everything in the 90s but Bentham makes sense to me. And I’m glad Hobbes was toward the bottom–I always thought he was so _depressing._ ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/4 "2000-08-02T16:29:43Z")
Top Five: Kant (score = 100) Aristotle (score = 95) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 92) Aquinas (score = 89) Bentham (score = 83) Bottom Five: Hobbes (score = 43) Augustine (score = 38) Hume (score = 31) Ockham (score = 25) Cynics (score = 5) Kant’s a little surprising; I consider myself a Hegelian. I certainly don’t believe in a categorical imperative. Then again I really don’t know much about the thinking of a lot of these philosophers; moreover I think that the interpretation of a philosopher’s thinking (especially in something like this) is highly subjective. **shrug** ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/5 "2000-08-02T16:42:56Z")
Top three: Kant (score = 100) Mill (score = 84) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 80) (I find this hard to believe; I remember reading Kant in college and thinking he was a pompous ass whose ideas wouldn’t hold up for five minutes in real life. Mill, I thought was OK but a bit oblivious to the fact that people have emotions, and I’m sorry to say that I don’t know a thing about Sartre. Philosophy never was my strong subject.) Bottom three: Plato (score = 27) Hobbes (score = 24) Cynics (score = 5) ---
**Author:** ![lunapark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/278dde/32.png) [@lunapark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunapark)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/6 "2000-08-02T16:46:11Z")
Ayn Rand (score = 100) Kant (score = 94) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 90) Aquinas (score = 84) Stoics (score = 80) Spinoza (score = 74) Augustine (score = 70) Bentham (score = 67) Cynics (score = 66) Mill (score = 63) Aristotle (score = 58) Prescriptivism (score = 45) Ockham (score = 44) Plato (score = 44) Nietzsche (score = 35) Hume (score = 31) Noddings (score = 23) Hobbes (score = 16) Epicureans (score = 16) Why is Aquinas so high up when i didn’t answer any of the questions with the God answers. Geez. I’m not sure why Rand is number 1 either. I like Stoics the best and Aristotle. Cynics is alright. ---
**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/7 "2000-08-02T17:28:44Z")
Augustine (score = 100) Kant (score = 81) Mill (score = 79) Spinoza (score = 77) Aquinas (score = 77) Ockham (score = 76) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 71) Plato (score = 63) Bentham (score = 57) Prescriptivism (score = 53) Aristotle (score = 47) Ayn Rand (score = 42) Noddings (score = 40) Epicureans (score = 38) Stoics (score = 38) Hume (score = 34) Nietzsche (score = 26) Cynics (score = 19) Hobbes (score = 16) Doesn’t seem too far off. To be honest, when I did study a few of these people, I never actually considered which best fit my outlook – just which was more interesting/complete/whatever else. I shall have to consider more. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/8 "2000-08-02T17:38:35Z")
Jean Paul Sartre (score = 100) Hume (score = 97) Nietzsche (score = 93) Stoics (score = 89) Hobbes (score = 75) Don’t remember anything about any of them specifically, though I have read them all (except the Stoics, didn’t they all die at Thermopylae?) at some point or another. I will say this, though: His move to FOX News has completely undermined Hume’s credibility. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/9 "2000-08-02T18:04:16Z")
Okay, I’m definitely on an acid trip… TOP FIVE Ayn Rand (score = 100) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 94) Spinoza (score = 88) Nietzsche (score = 86) Aquinas (score = 76) BOTTOM FIVE Ockham (score = 46) Bentham (score = 36) Augustine (score = 34) Noddings (score = 30) Plato (score = 29) ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/10 "2000-08-02T18:11:14Z")
I tried this a few different ways (hard to make absolute choices on some of those questions!). Kept getting Sartre, Kant, Mill, and Benthem as the top 4, in varying orders. I have found Sartre (and existentialism as a whole) pretty influential (although I disagree quite sharply with him on various things). Dunno if the others left much of an impression on me. Hey, but where are Camus and Kierkegaard (waaayyy bigger influences on me)? What about Gurjieff (sp?) and other semi-mystic religious-type philosophers (if we’re gonna include folks like Aquinas, why the hell not go the whole nine yards?) ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/11 "2000-08-02T18:24:24Z")
I guess it pretty much nailed me (Mahayana Buddhist) but then a lot of the questions were pretty leading (it was really not hard to tell which selections would lead to that result!) What really suprises me is the inclusion of Scientology, along with statements like: > [@](#): > > Scientology has founded and supports many organizations for social betterment, particularly in the areas of drug abuse, crime, psychiatric abuse, government abuse of law, human rights, religious freedom, education, and morality. Really? Sure could use a cite on that… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/12 "2000-08-02T18:50:59Z")
Well, I didn’t like this one anywhere near as much as the RELIGION selector. I kept choosing “None of the above” and “Very Important”, which must be awfully hard to evaluate. And the results were: • Ayn Rand (score = 100) • Kant (score = 89) • Jean Paul Sartre (score = 86) … • Hobbes (score = 19) • Cynics (score = 15) • Noddings (score = 0) Ayn Rand, for God’s sake? I don’t think so! The questions are very badly worded, creating diametrical opposites out of incomplete or partial descriptions of beliefs or viewpoints that concatenate elements of both. You can almost hear the quiz author insisting on a distinction between “subjective” and “objective”. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/13 "2000-08-02T18:59:10Z")
This is much more fun than the religous one. Mill-100 Betham-93 Epicurians-88 Kant-81 Auquinas-70 Sartre-70 Who the hell is Betham? ---
**Author:** ![JosephFinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-system-selector/27848/14 "2000-08-02T20:12:32Z")
Mill (score = 100) Aquinas (score = 96) Aristotle (score = 84) Epicureans (score = 82) Jean Paul Sartre (score = 75) Bentham (score = 71) Kant (score = 68) Hume (score = 68) Ayn Rand (score = 64) Spinoza (score = 63) Nietzsche (score = 59) Stoics (score = 58) Hobbes (score = 51) Plato (score = 49) Augustine (score = 42) Cynics (score = 41) Noddings (score = 28) Ockham (score = 28) Prescriptivism (score = 24) Hmm…would’ve thought that Hobbes would be higher and that twit Rand lower, but not far off. I do like that Mills and Aquinas (the rationalists, leaving aside the pronouncements of Aquinas that show the influence of his society) are at the top.