While I do not deny Washington’s importance (especially after the war for independence), I do question your statement about he being more responsible for American independence than anyone else. During the second session of the continental congress, it was Franklin that had the most persuasive arguments for declaring independence from England. Prior to Franklin’s arrival, a New York representative (I forget his name) lead a significant number of loyalists/Tories that believed that we could repair the damage done to our relationship with King George. Franklin, having first hand knowledge of the futile nature of trying to do so, enlightened the congress of the negative attitude in the English Parliment towards colonists.
He also supplied those letters (I can’t remember what they were called) that also exhibited the English attitude towards the colonists. Those letters were published in all the 13 and enraged the public, drawing more support for independence.
Finally, Franklin, with his infectious charm, was instrumental in establishing an alliance with France, and many would consider that alliance as being the one thing that led to the American victory.
Again, Washington definitely was great (and I understand that he was one badass mo-fo) but I still maintain that Franklin was more instrumental in the fight for American independence.
Wellll…there are many a religious personality that would have to be included, if it were a non-secular only poll.
Noah/Adam/Eve- (From a religious stand,) without these guys, there would be no human history.
Abraham- Father of three major world religions, and all that this entails.
JC- Duh.
But I digress.
If we’re going by the criteria that they have had the greatest secular impact on humanity, than I would have to say Christopher Columbus. I know, some of y’all are going to say that, if it weren’t him, than someone else would have come along and done the same. But if we use those criteria, than almost nobody would be viable.
Mr Columbus “discovered” the New World. Without this discovery, there is no Westernization of the area of the United States. If someone from China, for instance, started doing what Mr Columbus would have done, than the Americas would be completely different. And remember, “The East” didn’t have much contact with “The West” during this period, so any major discovery would be kept to one or the other. Altering the very fabric of two continents is a big enough feat in of itself. But, without the Westernized Americas, there would be no United States, and all that this entails. Languages around the globe would be different. Balance of power would be radically different.
The fact that the Europeans “discovered” the Americas makes one hell of an impact in the grand scheme of things. Who was the first one to do so (besides the Vikings, who didn’t really exploit the opportunity)?
Christopher Columbus.
He’s my nominee, although he wasn’t such a great dude in of himself, he certainly had a huge impact.
I, for one, hardly see how said Westernization merits a description of “greatest”. The plagues, pestilences, and diseases brought here by the conquerors, along with their unbridled tyrannical massacres in pursuit of their manifest destiny, are not in my opinion mitigated by the fact that there arose from it all a mighty military and industrial power.
Einstein. What he did for understanding and perspective has changed the world more than any other knowledge ever. Unlike religious leaders the things he has given us are testable & tangible. No religion ever put a man on the moon.
You think Siddharta actually existed? Now, he’s pretty freakin’ mythic! Gee, I vote for Hercules…
Seriously, though, what can you expect from a Kantian?
The greatest human being ever must be someone who achieved a great level of development of his human animal form. An incredible athlete, a revolutionary thinker, an extremely beautiful model, a artisan of godlike skill, or a great Renaissance man with elements of most of these.
All of the answers so far have focused on the intellectual. I would prefer to nominate some who was not only athletic, but could sing.
Well…Perhaps I’m not very well informed, so I’m going to ask : What are the evidences proving the existence of Siddharta (and proving it in a more convincing way than the evidences in favor of Jesus…in other words, religious documents are ruled out)?
As for the OP, it seems to me to be an obvious IMO question. And the responses will be (and already are) biased by the range of knowledge and nationality of the posters (Plato is much more likely to be cited than Confucius, and an american or america-related character much more likely to be cited than a Russian one), like in my recent argument with a poster stating that the battle of Hastings was the single most important event in world’s history.
epolo - thanks for the link, but I didn’t even know about that special. I’ll be sure to watch it tonight. However, he was fresh in my mind because I just finished the book Rise to Rebellion.
dalovindj - I was seriously considering Alfred, but I thought Franklin’s contributions had a broader impact.
soup_du_jour - Can’t agree, not in the least. The guy did a lot of harm to a lot of innocents. Enough so that I think it negates any good that he did.
I’ve read all of his books, and he seems to be fair, hoenst, and wise.
I can’t convince you just by my saying that.
Reading any of his books might, though.
One that leaps to my mind is The Shadow That Scares Me.
Thomas Paine was probably more instrumental to inflaming public sentiment into revolution than Franklin. His phamplets, like Common Sense, were the key to getting large numbers of people POed.
—If someone from China, for instance, started doing what Mr Columbus would have done, than the Americas would be completely different.—
So? Is that better, or worse? If we’re talking simply in terms of what person’s action had the most impact on history, for all we know it could have been Joe Schmoe in Potstown England who killed a pig and set off a massive chain of events. If we’re talking actual laudable accomplishments a person actually got done within their lifetime, under their own power, that’s something very different.
