# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![seriousart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@seriousart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seriousart)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/41 "2001-04-07T05:54:26Z")
Yea Kant. Boooooo, Cynics Pretty accurate on the call of Kant, I’d say. 1.Kant (100%) 2.Aquinas (95%) 3.Stoics (95%) 4.Mill (86%) 5.Sartre (85%) 6.Spinoza (81%) 7.Noddings (60%) 8. Plato (60%) 9.Epicureans (58%) 10.Prescriptivism (58%) 11.Augustine (56%) 12.Rand (55%) 13.Bentham (53%) 14.Hume (45%) 15.Ockham (45%) 16.Aristotle (43%) 17.Hobbes (41%) 18.Nietzsche (38%) 19.Cynics (36%) ---
**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, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/42 "2001-04-07T14:42:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, I must say that I disagree with you on the importance of ethics in philosophy. I was not arguing the “importance” of ethics. So whatever you’re disagreeing with is tangential at best to what I said. All I said what thatI personally have not studied much ethics. > [@](#): > > 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. So does abstract=less important? > [@](#): > > 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. All right, your point about ethics as a starting point for the rest of philosophy is relevant. In fact, on that hunch I went looking around the site for more philosophy but found only dog breeds & stuff. :rolleyes: My criticism had to do with the expectation that philosophy as a whole would be the subject of the quiz, then finding that it covered only one branch of philosophy, leaving out the rest. ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/43 "2001-04-07T15:23:32Z")
I matched with **Aristotle**. Huh? Looking at the choices, **Plato** is a much closer match. ---
**Author:** ![MorgainLaFey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@MorgainLaFey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MorgainLaFey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/44 "2001-04-07T15:31:57Z")
well I know little to nothing about philosophy (unless it’s political), but the summery that they provided for Sartre sounds about right for what I believe. But Kant was a little closer. 1. Sartre (100%) Click here for info 2. Kant (93%) Click here for info 3. Mill (79%) Click here for info 4. Bentham (78%) Click here for info 5. Prescriptivism (65%) Click here for info 6. Noddings (59%) Click here for info 7. Epicureans (58%) Click here for info 8. Augustine (44%) Click here for info 9. Aquinas (42%) Click here for info 10. Spinoza (38%) Click here for info and, being a wicca, didn’t expect Augustine or Aquinas to be so high (i expected them to be 19 and 20). But reading it over, if you take out the things about Jesus it sounds like me alot. And I also think that it was more about morality then philosphy, becuse there were parts of philosophy left out. -Morgain ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/45 "2001-04-07T16:00:12Z")
Another Mill-er here. 1. Mill (100%) 2. Aquinas (94%) 3. Kant (91%) 4. Aristotle (88%) 5. Bentham (87%) 6. Sartre (81%) 7. Rand (80%) 8. Spinoza (78%) 9. Augustine (77%) 10. Epicureans (76%) 11. Plato (74%) 12. Stoics (63%) 13. Nietzsche (53%) 14. Hume (50%) 15. Prescriptivism (46%) 16. Ockham (42%) 17. Cynics (38%) 18. Noddings (38%) 19. Hobbes (25%) ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/46 "2001-04-07T17:28:05Z")
1. Kant (100%) 2. Mill (96%) 3. Bentham (89%) 4. Sartre (86%) 5. Epicureans (80%) 6. Rand (73%) 7. Prescriptivism (67%) 8. Stoics (66%) 9. Aquinas (64%) 10. Aristotle (64%) 11. Spinoza (61%) 12. Hume (53%) 13. Plato (51%) 14. Nietzsche (48%) 15. Ockham (47%) 16. Augustine (47%) 17. Cynics (47%) 18. Noddings (40%) 19. Hobbes (33%) ---
**Author:** ![bunnicula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@bunnicula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bunnicula)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/47 "2001-04-07T21:18:15Z")
1. Kant (100%) 2. Sartre (93%) 3. Mill (79%) 4. Rand (73%) 5. Prescriptivism (56%) 6. Aquinas (53%) 7. Bentham (51%) 8. Spinoza (48%) 9. Stoics (47%) 10. Epicureans (44%) 11. Cynics (5%) i find the last one amusing, as my family tells me i’m extremely cynical. hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/48 "2001-04-07T21:56:51Z")
My results are kinda odd, since I agreed more with Mill than with Kant when I read both as an undergrad, and I really dig Plato. Anyway, my results: 1. Kant (100%) 2. Mill (92%) 3. Epicureans (91%) 4. Aquinas (83%) 5. Aristotle (80%) 6. Sartre (79%) 7. Rand (76%) 8. Spinoza (64%) 9. Bentham (63%) 10. Prescriptivism (62%) 11. Stoics (60%) 12. Noddings (46%) 13. Ockham (44%) 14. Augustine (43%) 15. Nietzsche (37%) 16. Hume (34%) 17. Plato (34%) 18. Hobbes (23%) 19. Cynics (5%) ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/49 "2001-04-07T22:22:36Z")
1. Aristotle (100%) 2. Rand (97%) 3. Aquinas (78%) 4. Hobbes (78%) 5. Epicureans (76%) 6. Sartre (76%) 7. Mill (73%) 8. Hume (65%) 9. Stoics (63%) 10. Bentham (55%) 11. Nietzsche (54%) 12. Spinoza (52%) 13. Kant (49%)o 14. Noddings (44%) 15. Plato (40%) 16. Prescriptivism (39%) 17. Augustine (33%) 18. Cynics (31%) 19. Ockham (30%) Sweet Baby Jesus, it made me an Objectivist. How utterly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Sang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ee7513/32.png) [@Le\_Sang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Sang)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/50 "2001-04-08T01:59:17Z")
Hmm… and after all the things I’ve heard about him, I was hoping not to have to read Kant, too. 1. Kant (100%) 2. Augustine (92%) 3. Mill (87%) 4. Sartre (86%) 5. Ockham (76%) 6. Bentham (73%) 7. Rand (73%) 8. Spinoza (66%) 9. Aquinas (63%) 10. Prescriptivism (56%) 11. Plato (53%) 12. Epicureans (48%) 13. Aristotle (47%) 14. Hume (43%) 15. Stoics (40%) 16. Nietzsche (37%) 17. Noddings (36%) 18. Cynics (30%) 19. Hobbes (13%) ---
**Author:** ![strawberriesandcream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@strawberriesandcream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strawberriesandcream)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/51 "2001-04-08T02:39:02Z")
Well here are my results 1. Sartre (100%) 2. Noddings (85%) 3. Spinoza (85%) 4. Aquinas (77%) 5. Kant (70%) 6. Augustine (62%) 7. Aristotle (60%) 8. Nietzsche (58%) 9. Mill (57%) 10. Epicureans (56%) 11. Bentham (55%) 12. Ockham (55%) 13. Hume (50%) 14. Stoics (47%) 15. Prescriptivism (36%) 16. Plato (32%) 17. Hobbes (20%) 18. Cynics (18%) 19. Rand (18%) I didn’t know I could think like anyone that smart 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sagasumono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Sagasumono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sagasumono)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/52 "2001-04-08T07:46:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > > 100% Aquinas, here. \*\* Yep Same here. Considering my beleifs I’m not too suprised. Second was St.Augestine BTW Ukulele you woundn’t happen to be from “da Kine” eh? ---
**Author:** ![Sagasumono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Sagasumono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sagasumono)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/53 "2001-04-08T08:05:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*1. Augustine (100%) > 2. Spinoza (97%) > 3. Aquinas (89%) > 4. Kant (64%) > 5. Mill (61%) > 6. Bentham (61%) > 7. Nietzsche (58%) > 8. Sartre (58%) > 9. Epicureans (56%) > > I seem to be the first Augustinian here. Just goes to show the lasting impact of a Catholic upbringing, I suppose . . . > > But the setup sucks as a whole, because it ignored all non-Western philosophers. My real philosophy draws more from Eastern sources. Since this filters everything through a European sieve, the results come out distorted. > > Really, now. I might have expected this cultural chauvinism to be inevitable back in the 1950s (had computers been enabled for such a task back then), but to pretend that the world (especially the online world) is not a global village is just plain false. It is a fact that plenty of Asians and other non-Westerners are likely to log in. Can you treat their civilizations & philosophical contributions as nonexistent and still be intellectually honest? I mean, who gives a fuck about Sartre or Ayn Rand when Lao Tze, Shankara, the Dalai Lama, and al-Ghazzali have a lot more to say to you? \*\* {Funaki} SO DA NE!!! {/Funaki} I totally agree. If the eastern philosophers were included definitely Kung Fu Zhu, Shinran Shonin and Lao Tzu would have been on my list. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/54 "2001-04-08T23:21:45Z")
1. Sartre (100%) Click here for info 2. Rand (76%) Click here for info 3. Kant (69%) Click here for info 4. Nietzsche (66%) Click here for info 5. Bentham (66%) Click here for info 6. Hume (65%) Click here for info 7. Mill (64%) Click here for info 8. Stoics (55%) Click here for info 9. Noddings (54%) Click here for info 10. Hobbes (53%) Click here for info 11. Spinoza (53%) Click here for info 12. Epicureans (52%) Click here for info 13. Aristotle (50%) Click here for info 14. Cynics (50%) Click here for info 15. Aquinas (47%) Click here for info 16. Prescriptivism (42%) Click here for info 17. Augustine (35%) Click here for info 18. Ockham (30%) Click here for info 19. Plato (23%) 20. Sartre (100%) Click here for info 21. Rand (76%) Click here for info 22. Kant (69%) Click here for info 23. Nietzsche (66%) Click here for info 24. Bentham (66%) Click here for info 25. Hume (65%) Click here for info 26. Mill (64%) Click here for info 27. Stoics (55%) Click here for info 28. Noddings (54%) Click here for info 29. Hobbes (53%) Click here for info 30. Spinoza (53%) Click here for info 31. Epicureans (52%) Click here for info 32. Aristotle (50%) Click here for info 33. Cynics (50%) Click here for info 34. Aquinas (47%) Click here for info 35. Prescriptivism (42%) Click here for info 36. Augustine (35%) Click here for info 37. Ockham (30%) Click here for info ) 38. Sartre (100%) 39. Rand (76%) 40. Kant (69%) 41. Nietzsche (66%) 42. Bentham (66%) 43. Hume (65%) 44. Mill (64%) 45. Stoics (55%) 46. Noddings (54%) 47. Hobbes (53%) 48. Spinoza (53%) 49. Epicureans (52%) 50. Aristotle (50%) 51. Cynics (50%) 52. Aquinas (47%) 53. Prescriptivism (42%) 54. Augustine (35%) 55. Ockham (30%) 56. Plato (23%) ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/55 "2001-04-08T23:22:59Z")
1. Bentham (100%) Click here for info 2. Mill (97%) Click here for info 3. Spinoza (96%) Click here for info 4. Aquinas (92%) Click here for info 5. Aristotle (87%) Click here for info 6. Sartre (87%) Click here for info 7. Kant (83%) Click here for info 8. Noddings (83%) Click here for info 9. Epicureans (81%) Click here for info 10. Stoics (65%) Click here for info 11. Nietzsche (64%) Click here for info 12. Hume (51%) Click here for info 13. Prescriptivism (49%) Click here for info 14. Rand (48%) Click here for info 15. Ockham (47%) Click here for info 16. Augustine (46%) Click here for info 17. Cynics (43%) Click here for info 18. Hobbes (42%) Click here for info 19. Plato (29%) Click here for info Hmmm. I too wish that test had more than just Western philosophers on it. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Isabella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Queen\_Isabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Isabella)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/56 "2001-04-09T00:10:21Z")
1. Nietzsche (100%) 2. Sartre (93%) 3. Hobbes (88%) 4. Noddings (85%) 5. Cynics (80%) 6. Hume (78%) 7. Epicureans (72%) 8. Stoics (72%) 9. Bentham (68%) 10. Mill (68%) Nietzsche seems like a pretty accurate match for me. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/57 "2001-04-09T01:10:33Z")
1. Rand (100%) 2. Nietzsche (88%) 3. Sartre (85%) 4. Hobbes (76%) 5. Hume (75%) 6. Aristotle (67%) 7. Kant (62%) 8. Epicureans (60%) 9. Mill (56%) 10. Spinoza (54%) 11. Stoics (53%) 12. Aquinas (47%) 13. Cynics (47%) 14. Prescriptivism (41%) 15. Plato (40%) 16. Bentham (39%) 17. Ockham (38%) 18. Noddings (35%) 19. Augustine (22%) Given such a large percentage of so many, I guess I’m just a confused hypocrite. Always knew I agreed with Nietzsche, thought it would be higher than 88%. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/58 "2001-04-09T02:41:02Z")
1. Epicureans (100%) 2. Nietzsche (90%) 3. Spinoza (87%) 4. Aristotle (71%) 5. Aquinas (70%) 6. Bentham (69%) 7. Mill (67%) 8. Stoics (67%) 9. Hume (66%) 10. Sartre (65%) I do think they’re right with the Nietzsche thing with the exception of the possibility of a god. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/59 "2001-04-09T17:54:47Z")
Another pissant checking in… 1. Kant (100%) Click here for info 2. Rand (100%) Click here for info 3. Mill (89%) Click here for info 4. Sartre (85%) Click here for info 5. Aristotle (83%) Click here for info 6. Aquinas (80%) Click here for info 7. Bentham (68%) Click here for info 8. Nietzsche (68%) Click here for info 9. Epicureans (67%) Click here for info 10. Prescriptivism (61%) Click here for info 11. Stoics (61%) Click here for info 12. Hume (58%) Click here for info 13. Ockham (58%) Click here for info 14. Spinoza (56%) Click here for info 15. Cynics (53%) Click here for info 16. Augustine (46%) Click here for info 17. Noddings (43%) Click here for info 18. Hobbes (40%) Click here for info 19. Plato (40%) Click here for info Not terribly familiar with Kant. Will have to consider reading a little about him. Any recommendations for a good intro book to Kant? ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041/60 "2001-04-09T18:38:49Z")
JK. 1. Kant (100%) Click here for info 2. Mill (91%) Click here for info 3. Bentham (90%) Click here for info 4. Sartre (83%) Click here for info 5. Prescriptivism (73%) Click here for info 6. Spinoza (73%) Click here for info 7. Noddings (70%) Click here for info 8. Aquinas (69%) Click here for info 9. Epicureans (64%) Click here for info 10. Stoics (52%) Click here for info 11. Augustine (49%) Click here for info 12. Nietzsche (44%) Click here for info 13. Aristotle (43%) Click here for info 14. Rand (42%) Click here for info 15. Ockham (35%) Click here for info 16. Plato (35%) Click here for info 17. Hobbes (29%) Click here for info 18. Hume (29%) Click here for info 19. Cynics (21%) Click here for info [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philosophy-which-is-your-closest-match/61041.md?page=4)