# who is the greatest American born philosopher? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784 "2018-05-25T07:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SuperBravo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SuperBravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperBravo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/1 "2018-05-25T07:36:59Z")
in your opinion this has always been a tough question for me, since there aren’t that many famous american philosophers that are up there with the best European philosophers, there aren’t many original american philosophy schools? is there anyone born in America that stand out for you? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/2 "2018-05-25T11:00:20Z")
William James ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/3 "2018-05-25T11:29:22Z")
Eddie Vedder ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/4 "2018-05-25T12:30:06Z")
“Philosopher” is kind of a vague appellation, but one could quite strongly argue for Thomas Jefferson. James, Chomsky, and Peirce (yes, it’s spelled like that) would be candidates if you have to be primarily known as a thinker. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/5 "2018-05-25T12:34:19Z")
Emerson? ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/6 "2018-05-25T12:41:18Z")
The answer is probably James, but I feel like Emerson and Thoreau need to be mentioned somewhere on the list. (And I see Eonwe beat me to Emerson.) A pair of interesting dark horses are [Robert Nozick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick) and [John Rawls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawls), though “Best” seems a little lofty for those two. I want to add [Russell Kirk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Kirk) and [Bill Buckley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.) somewhere on the top ten or twenty or so too. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/7 "2018-05-25T12:50:03Z")
Daniel Dennett, for me. Or Thoreau. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/8 "2018-05-25T13:07:35Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > “Philosopher” is kind of a vague appellation, but one could quite strongly argue for Thomas Jefferson. He and Lincoln both popped into my brain in the first wave. I will settle though possibly on Mark Train tied with Will Rogers. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/9 "2018-05-25T14:27:42Z")
[Homer.](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-37999573) ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/10 "2018-05-25T15:28:15Z")
I would go with the great American Existentialist philosopher, Popeye, the Sailor Man: “I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam.” I find the empathetic implications of Bugs Bunny’s “Nyah…what’s up, Doc?” intriguing, however, I do not subscribe to Daffy Duck’s cosmological denial (“I’m so crazy, I don’t even know this is impossible”) or the nihilistic rumblings of the Fuddists. When it comes to putting philosophy into action, I can think of no more compelling example than the mighty three-toed sloth (whom I claim as my power animal). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/11 "2018-05-25T15:54:18Z")
William James was the first name that came to my mind. If I had more time to think about and research the question, he might or might not end up being my pick. > [@RickJay](#): > > “Philosopher” is kind of a vague appellation, but one could quite strongly argue for Thomas Jefferson. > > James, Chomsky, and Peirce (yes, it’s spelled like that) would be candidates if you have to be primarily known as a thinker. [Do all philosophers have an ‘s’ in them?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa0bCzwSNA0) I suppose one way of deciding who counts as a “philosopher” would be who’s listed in the [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html). It’s a fairly inclusive list, and Thomas Jefferson is on there. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/12 "2018-05-25T16:12:39Z")
I would answer the same way I would for the question, “What 3 Americans, living or dead, would you want to have dinner with?” Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, and George Carlin. Get the best contemplator of each century. (Does Franklin count as American? I like to think so…) ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/13 "2018-05-25T16:21:25Z")
I would have gone with [John Rawls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rawls) being on the list. ---
**Author:** ![SuperBravo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SuperBravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperBravo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/14 "2018-05-25T17:28:46Z")
I have often seen C.S Peirce considered to be the greatest American-born philosopher i have seen many refer him to being the single greatest mind in american history (which is more disputable), but that is depth and broadness was amazing his work in mathematical logic is fundamental and was working during the same time as Frege among his other work in semiotics and pragmatism etc. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/15 "2018-05-25T18:59:58Z")
I nominate Bob Dylan. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/16 "2018-05-25T19:25:29Z")
John Rawls is the correct answer. Thomas Kuhn and WVO Quine are in the running though. I’d put them both above James. ---
**Author:** ![SuperBravo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SuperBravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperBravo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/17 "2018-05-25T20:08:43Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > John Rawls is the correct answer. Thomas Kuhn and WVO Quine are in the running though. I’d put them both above James. Interesting, i notice alot of people put James above CS Pierce in terms of the pragmatists. I wonder if that’s because Pierce is a more obscure and/or technical philosopher ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-american-born-philosopher/814784/18 "2018-05-25T20:28:23Z")
> [@SuperBravo](#): > > Interesting, i notice alot of people put James above CS Pierce in terms of the pragmatists. I wonder if that’s because Pierce is a more obscure and/or technical philosopher Quite possibly. James has the advantage that he could write well and produced several books that can be appreciated by the general reader, whereas > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Peirce’s reputation rests largely on a number of academic papers published in American scientific and scholarly journals… The only full-length book (neither extract nor pamphlet) that Peirce authored and saw published in his lifetime was _Photometric Researches_ (1878), a 181-page monograph on the applications of spectrographic methods to astronomy. Admittedly, literary ability and accessibility aren’t the criteria by which to judge a philosopher _as a philosopher_, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a professional (academic) philosopher picked one of those other names over James as the “greatest American born philosopher.”