# Philosophy....which is your closest match? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2001, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041 "2001-04-06T07:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/21 "2001-04-06T19:14:20Z")
Then there’s the religion quiz on the same site. (Also how to pick a name for your baby, and which dog is right for you!) I came up “Liberal Quaker” for the second time! (I also tried the religion quiz on Beliefnet and got Liberal Quaker.) Liberal Quaker (score=100) Baháí (score=92) Islam (score=92) Orthodox Judaism (score=92) New Age (score=81) Unitarian Universalist (score=80) Neo-Pagan (score=77) Reform Judaism (score=76) Orthodox Quaker (score=70) Mainline to Liberal Protestant (score=65) This suggests I’m one crazy mixed-up guy. Neopagan alongside Orthodox Jewish!?!?! Like a _lokh in kopf_ I need that! One thing’s for sure, according to this: I’ve successfully shaken my Catholic upbringing. That was way down the list. But I don’t even know what the heck a Liberal Quaker is, or how that differs from Regular Quaker! I hope Nixon wasn’t one of them. Somebody _please_ tell me Nixon wasn’t one! ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/22 "2001-04-06T19:24:41Z")
1. Sartre (100%) 2. Rand (97%) 3. Kant (90%) 4. Mill (76%) 5. Stoics (76%) 6. Nietzsche (74%) 7. Hume (71%) 8. Bentham (70%) 9. Aquinas (63%) 10. Cynics (63%) ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/23 "2001-04-06T20:57:46Z")
1. Kant (100%) 2. Sartre (98%) 3. Mill (95%) 4. Rand (78%) 5. Bentham (72%) 6. Prescriptivism (61%) 7. Epicureans (60%) 8. Aquinas (54%) 9. Ockham (46%) 10. Augustine (41%) 11. Aristotle (39%) 12. Stoics (30%) 13. Spinoza (27%) 14. Plato (26%) 15. Noddings (22%) 16. Hume (21%) 17. Nietzsche (20%) 18. Cynics (16%) 19. Hobbes (10%) ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/24 "2001-04-06T22:13:04Z")
I really haven’t studyed philosophy to any extent, but after taking that quiz, I’ve developed absolutely no further interest in the subject whatsoever. 1. Mill (100%) 2. Kant (84%) 3. Epicureans (81%) 4. Aquinas (77%) 5. Bentham (72%) 6. Sartre (67%) 7. Aristotle (61%) 8. Rand (58%) 9. Spinoza (54%) 10. Ockham (49%) 11. Prescriptivism (46%) 12. Nietzsche (40%) 13. Augustine (35%) 14. Stoics (35%) 15. Cynics (31%) 16. Hobbes (25%) 17. Hume (25%) 18. Noddings (15%) 19. Plato (13%) ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/25 "2001-04-06T23:00:53Z")
Gee, hard to picture from the anarchist libertarian, huh? 1. Rand (100%) 2. Nietzsche (81%) 3. Sartre (68%) 4. Kant (64%) 5. Hume (62%) 6. Mill (56%) 7. Hobbes (55%) 8. Prescriptivism (55%) 9. Cynics (53%) 10. Epicureans (50%) 11. Stoics (49%) 12. Aristotle (44%) 13. Aquinas (40%) 14. Ockham (40%) 15. Plato (40%) 16. Spinoza (39%) 17. Bentham (27%) 18. Augustine (22%) 19. Noddings (18%) ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/26 "2001-04-06T23:15:45Z")
Huh. Not what I woulda thunk… all that God stuff makes me feel kinda oogly: 1. Aquinas (100%) 2. Spinoza (100%) 3. Aristotle (83%) 4. Bentham (82%) 5. Augustine (78%) 6. Mill (78%) 7. Kant (71%) 8. Epicureans (69%) 9. Sartre (67%) 10. Stoics (64%) 11. Nietzsche (57%) 12. Rand (52%) 13. Ockham (50%) 14. Cynics (46%) 15. Hume (46%) 16. Plato (42%) 17. Prescriptivism (38%) 18. Noddings (33%) 19. Hobbes (26%) ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/27 "2001-04-06T23:31:20Z")
Another Augustinian checking in. Guess Catholicism does leave it’s mark, eh? 1. Augustine(100%) 2. Aquinas(75%) 3. Spinoza(71%) 4. Mill(63%) 5. Ockham(60%) 6. Kant(60%) 7. Rand(57%) 8. Plato 53%) 9. Aristotle(48%) 10. Epicureans(45%) ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/28 "2001-04-06T23:35:03Z")
1. Spinoza (100%) 2. Epicureans (94%) 3. Stoics (87%) 4. Aristotle (86%) 5. Aquinas (81%) 6. Nietzsche (76%) 7. Rand (69%) 8. Sartre (62%) 9. Hume (59%) 10. Mill (57%) 11. Hobbes (56%) 12. Bentham (53%) 13. Kant (49%) 14. Prescriptivism (49%) 15. Cynics (47%) 16. Augustine (38%) 17. Ockham (38%) 18. Plato (38%) 19. Noddings (22%) No idea who Spinoza was though. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/29 "2001-04-06T23:39:52Z")
I wouldv’e guessed Sarte, and as it turned out, I would’ve guessed right: 1. Sartre (100%) Click here for info 2. Mill (90%) Click here for info 3. Kant (89%) Click here for info 4. Bentham (88%) Click here for info 5. Epicureans (76%) Click here for info 6. Rand (75%) Click here for info 7. Prescriptivism (67%) Click here for info 8. Aquinas (48%) Click here for info 9. Aristotle (47%) Click here for info 10. Spinoza (46%) Click here for info I should print the list out, then the next time someone confueses “skeptic” with “cynic,” I can prove 'em wrong. “No, no,” I’ll say, “I’m only 17% cynic!” Jess (off to look up Bentham) ---
**Author:** ![BickByro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BickByro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BickByro)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/30 "2001-04-06T23:41:14Z")
1. Hobbes (100%) 2. Nietzsche (91%) 3. Epicureans (81%) 4. Aristotle (74%) 5. Bentham (64%) 6. Hume (63%) 7. Sartre (63%) 8. Aquinas (58%) 9. Stoics (54%) 10. Noddings (51%) 11. Cynics (49%) 12. Mill (46%) 13. Spinoza (45%) 14. Rand (40%) 15. Kant (34%) 16. Prescriptivism (32%) 17. Plato (31%) 18. Ockham (28%) 19. Augustine (13%) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/31 "2001-04-07T00:58:11Z")
1. Mill (100%) Click here for info 2. Kant (99%) Click here for info 3. Rand (98%) Click here for info 4. Prescriptivism (92%) Click here for info 5. Epicureans (91%) Click here for info 6. Ockham (91%) Click here for info 7. Aristotle (83%) Click here for info 8. Nietzsche (67%) Click here for info 9. Aquinas (62%) Click here for info 10. Stoics (60%) Click here for info 11. Spinoza (60%) Click here for info 12. Bentham (58%) Click here for info 13. Sartre (56%) Click here for info 14. Hume (46%) Click here for info 15. Hobbes (42%) Click here for info 16. Cynics (35%) Click here for info 17. Augustine (26%) Click here for info 18. Noddings (26%) Click here for info 19. Plato (25%) Click here for info ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/32 "2001-04-07T01:24:52Z")
The OP pitched this thread & quiz as about “philosophy” _per se_—without any qualifying terms. What I found when I went there was that it’s limited to ethical philosophy. I never really studied ethics and can’t say I know much about the subject. I would much rather check out metaphysics, ontology, cosmology, or epistemology. Or even logic, since I’m pointing out the fallacy implied by the thread title. _Pars pro toto_. ---
**Author:** ![ism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3e96dc/32.png) [@ism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ism)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/33 "2001-04-07T01:33:09Z")
1. Aquinas (100%) 2. Mill (92%) 3. Bentham (91%) 4. Kant (87%) 5. Aristotle (80%) 6. Prescriptivism (64%) 7. Epicureans (63%) 8. Rand (63%) 9. Spinoza (56%) 10. Ockham (55%) 11. Stoics (52%) 12. Augustine (50%) 13. Plato (48%) 14. Sartre (48%) 15. Noddings (41%) 16. Nietzsche (34%) 17. Hume (32%) 18. Cynics (28%) 19. Hobbes (15%) ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/34 "2001-04-07T02:30:04Z")
1. Stoics (100%) 2. Epicureans (95%) 3. Hobbes (93%) 4. Rand (93%) 5. Sartre (93%) 6. Cynics (86%) 7. Aquinas (84%) 8. Aristotle (82%) 9. Hume (78%) 10. Mill (73%) 11. Spinoza (73%) 12. Nietzsche (69%) 13. Bentham (56%) 14. Noddings (56%) 15. Kant (52%) 16. Plato (50%) 17. Ockham (39%) 18. Prescriptivism (36%) 19. Augustine (32%) ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/35 "2001-04-07T02:50:36Z")
1. Mill (100%) 2. Kant (91%) 3. Spinoza (86%) 4. Epicureans (78%) 5. Bentham (78%) 6. Prescriptivism (76%) 7. Sartre (74%) 8. Aquinas (69%) 9. Aristotle (57%) 10. Nietzsche (52%) 11. Stoics (52%) 12. Hume (49%) 13. Noddings (49%) 14. Hobbes (41%) 15. Augustine (39%) 16. Rand (36%) 17. Ockham (34%) 18. Plato (28%) 19. Cynics (17%) ---
**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/36 "2001-04-07T04:31:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The OP pitched this thread & quiz as about philosophy" per se—without any qualifying terms. What I found when I went there was that it’s limited to ethical philosophy. I never really studied ethics and can’t say I know much about the subject. I would much rather check out metaphysics, ontology, cosmology, or epistemology. > > Or even logic, since I’m pointing out the fallacy implied by the thread title. Pars pro toto. Well, I must say that I disagree with you on the importance of ethics in philosophy. Metaphysics (I would say that ontology and cosmology fall under that general heading) and epistemology are certainly important portions of philosophy, but they are certainly rather abstract considerations. I consider ethics a more important study because it provides a consistent guideline to the more concrete situations that humans encounter in their daily lives. Likewise, I feel that ethics would be the way to best match people to a given philosophy and an excellent starting point to begin their studies and then the other ideas can be added into the mix. I admit that the questions can be rather poorly written (for example, question #12 implies a reason/passion dichotomy that I don’t believe exists), but all in all it’s a very good guideline. The choices that I see come up are quite interesting…less homogenous than the Objectivist loop where Rand and Aristotle topped everyone’s list ;). Incidentally, for those of you confused about getting such high scores for Thomas Aquinas, Aquinas was an exceptionally rational individual and well…it’s quite a shame that Christianity diverged away from his thinking…otherwise I imagine there would be a lot more Christians in the world :). ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/37 "2001-04-07T04:59:59Z")
1. Spinoza (100%) Click here for info 2. Sartre (97%) Click here for info 3. Aristotle (88%) Click here for info 4. Epicureans (88%) Click here for info 5. Aquinas (87%) Click here for info 6. Bentham (84%) Click here for info 7. Kant (83%) Click here for info 8. Mill (70%) Click here for info 9. Rand (65%) Click here for info 10. Stoics (64%) Click here for info Seems pretty accurate ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/38 "2001-04-07T05:20:53Z")
1. Aquinas (100%) 2. Kant (98%) 3. Prescriptivism (96%) 4. Mill (93%) 5. Rand (89%) 6. Aristotle (84%) 7. Bentham (75%) 8. Epicureans (68%) 9. Plato (62%) 10. Ockham (55%) 11. Spinoza (55%) 12. Augustine (40%) 13. Sartre (40%) 14. Noddings (37%) 15. Stoics (35%) 16. Cynics (34%) 17. Hume (29%) 18. Nietzsche (29%) 19. Hobbes (24%) ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/39 "2001-04-07T05:38:00Z")
1. Sartre (100%) 2. Stoics (97%) 3. Rand (94%) 4. Spinoza (84%) 5. Kant (82%) 6. Nietzsche (77%) 7. Hume (70%) 8. Augustine (60%) 9. Aquinas (57%) 10. Cynics (53%) 11. Mill (49%) 12. Hobbes (44%) 13. Ockham (43%) 14. Epicureans (41%) 15. Noddings (39%) 16. Prescriptivism (36%) 17. Aristotle (35%) 18. Plato (34%) 19. Bentham (33%) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/40 "2001-04-07T05:43:03Z")
1. Mill (100%) 2. Epicureans (88%) 3. Aquinas (86%) 4. Sartre (83%) 5. Kant (81%) 6. Bentham (79%) 7. Rand (67%) 8. Aristotle (62%) 9. Augustine (61%) 10. Ockham (60%) 11. Prescriptivism (57%) 12. Spinoza (50%) 13. Plato (47%) 14. Cynics (37%) 15. Noddings (28%) 16. Nietzsche (26%) 17. Hobbes (18%) 18. Hume (14%) 19. Stoics (11%) Makes sense, considering the fact that Mill is the only philosopher I’ve ever really read, rather than read _about_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041.md?page=3)