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What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

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Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#31

Post by finghin »

Joker_vD wrote: post #14
finghin wrote: post #10

>Descartes' launch of modern analytic philosophy I find this questionable. If we go back there is a similar analyticity to Spinoza. Go forward and Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein are impossible to ignore given this framing.

Like, seriously. Descartes was quite a great mathematician, but he was wrong about pretty much anything related to philosophy, biology, or physics (I've read his explanation of the refraction law; it's frankly worse than Newton's).

Yes in terms of philosophy, Kant absolutely needs to be here, Newton and Leibniz not as notably so.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#32

Post by irdc »

Self-domestication. That in order to be more successful as a collective species we had to literally breed ourselves to become less violent and more playful and sociable.

And the nice part is that it wasn't just one person deciding this but the collective intellectual leap of all those people throughout our history who decided to reproduce with the less violent and more cooperative members of the opposite sex.

And it must have been intellectual, because on the animal level being more capable of violence is surely an individual advantage.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#33

Post by finghin »

aerhardt wrote: post #21

The fact that Hegel is not there is ridiculous. Perhaps the most influential philosopher since Aristotle. Not only did he influence the young hegelians and Marx, he continues to influence many philosophers across all kinds of schools and ideologies. Marx not being there is an implicit moral judgement - if “great” means good in some ethical sense subjective, then OK. But if “great” means impactful or influential, that…

I also agree that Marx is a thinker who altered the course of the world and I see where you are coming from regarding the moral judgement on his absence.

As a counterpoint, what would Marx’s great intellectual achievement be, and could it stand up to the early capitalists like Smith?

What comes to mind is the Labour Theory of Value, and I would say it is a strong candidate for sure. Whether it figures as a key human intellectual achievement is definitely at best borderline compared to the other exemplars on this list.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#34

Post by 6510 »

smokel wrote: post #20
compounding_it wrote: post #3

Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born. Humans are incredible. Leaving the planet and taking a trip on the moon and possibly mars someday is no small feat. We just need to fix our planet. Or to be honest, stop ruining it so it heals itself.

Humans are also, possibly apart from dogs, the only beings that think humans are incredible. If we take any other entity in the universe, then chances are they think pretty lowly of humans and their cherished intelligence, if at all.

We don't have a frame of reference. Compared to similar creatures we could be pathetic or impressive.

Personally I'm very impressed how much we've accomplished with our crappy intellect and destructive nature.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#35

Post by cjbgkagh »

irdc wrote: post #32

Self-domestication. That in order to be more successful as a collective species we had to literally breed ourselves to become less violent and more playful and sociable. And the nice part is that it wasn't just one person deciding this but the collective intellectual leap of all those people throughout our history who decided to reproduce with the less violent and more cooperative members of the opposite sex. And it…

I think it was more the violent people were hung, or ostracized to die in the wilderness. Animals likely have similar genetic pressures as some animals have evolved ways to determine who’s the strongest with contests instead of the more deadly violence that they care capable of.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#37

Post by aerhardt »

finghin wrote: post #33
aerhardt wrote: post #21

The fact that Hegel is not there is ridiculous. Perhaps the most influential philosopher since Aristotle. Not only did he influence the young hegelians and Marx, he continues to influence many philosophers across all kinds of schools and ideologies. Marx not being there is an implicit moral judgement - if “great” means good in some ethical sense subjective, then OK. But if “great” means impactful or influential, that…

I also agree that Marx is a thinker who altered the course of the world and I see where you are coming from regarding the moral judgement on his absence. As a counterpoint, what would Marx’s great intellectual achievement be, and could it stand up to the early capitalists like Smith? What comes to mind is the Labour Theory of Value, and I would say it is a strong candidate for sure. Whether it figures as a key human…

I would say historical materialism is way more influential. His theory of value was quickly dispelled (although many continued to believe in it) but all marxist and post-marxist thinkers (the Frankfurt school, French post-modernists, current woke academicians) continue to use historical materialism in one way or another.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#38

Post by bananaflag »

hwhehwhehegwggw wrote: post #26

Advaita (non duality) is the highest intellectual achievement of the human civilization. The list itself mentioned is interesting but it focuses on content of consciousness and not consciousness itself. The contents keep changing. Consciousness doesn't. In other words humans appearing in consciousness discovering consciousness is more interesting than what appears on consciousness like laws of motion. This is not to…

Why Advaita and not Dzogchen?

Just something to think about.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#39

Post by Hikikomori »

yen223 wrote: post #23

Whoever figured out writing, all those years ago. The compounded effect of having knowledge recorded for generations to come - thereby unlocking all the other things mentioned on this list - surely should count for something.

What about reading.

Re: What have been the greatest intellectual achievements? (2017)

#40

Post by finghin »

aerhardt wrote: post #37
finghin wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also agree that Marx is a thinker who altered the course of the world and I see where you are coming from regarding the moral judgement on his absence. As a counterpoint, what would Marx’s great intellectual achievement be, and could it stand up to the early capitalists like Smith? What comes to mind is the Labour Theory of Value, and I would say it is a strong candidate for sure. Whether it figures as a key human…

I would say historical materialism is way more influential. His theory of value was quickly dispelled (although many continued to believe in it) but all marxist and post-marxist thinkers (the Frankfurt school, French post-modernists, current woke academicians) continue to use historical materialism in one way or another.

Good point, and noted
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