Who Was The Greatest Thinker?

[Godwynn]

I don't strictly mean philosophy, it is hard for me to think of a word to describe.

I mean, people like Einstein, Newton, and Da Vinci. These people who were extraordinary in so many fields that advanced human life, science, and thought.

Mathematician
Inventor
Physicist
Musician
Artist
Astronomer
Alchemist

Just some career fields to choose from. I want your opinion.

Please, do not just pick Rembrandt because he was an amazing artist, I want different fields involved.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zaliron]

I'm torn between Socrates, Shakespeare, and Ralph Baer.

Socrates taught others to question things instead of just accepting them.

Shakespeare for making words that were supposed to be simple enough for drunkards to understand.

Ralph Baer for creating the videogame. 'Nuff said.

 

[cybrxkhan]

- Leonardo da Vinci
- Shen Song (Chinese)
- Some other Chinese colleague of Shen Song, FORGOT HIS NAME!!!
- Bach (the guy is more insane then Mozart, in my opinion)
- Imhotep
- Zhuge Liang (at least as he is portrayed in The Three Kingdoms)

 

[Felix Luce]

- Imhotep

...is invisible.

(Anyone watch Look Around You here? No? Oh well.)

 

[shortguy]

Aristotle. A giant in physics, metaphysics, biology, logic, politics... you name it. He was the leading thinker of his time in so many fields.

 

[Brighteye]

Aristotle or Leonardo. These two are unrivalled.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

1. Pythagoras. He invented the musical scale and the first unified theory of the universe.

2. Archimedes. The first real scientist.

3. Bach. Is a great musician, often underrated.

4. Newton. Founded calculus, gravity, etc.

5. Einstein. Household word for genius (at least in America...).

 

[Plotinus]

Obviously Aristotle - I don't see anyone else mentioned here coming close.

After him, Leibniz - the closest to a universal genius the modern age has produced, I'd say. Easily Newton's equal in those fields they both shared, and a colossus in a whole number of completely different fields too:

Physics
Mathematics
Metaphysics
Theology
Law
History
Linguistics
Engineering
Alchemy
Mechanics
Geology

He really was interested in everything. Also, just read the Leibniz/Clarke correspondence to see how easily Leibniz could mop the floor with Newton philosophically.

 

[RedRalph]

BBC has Marx as the greatest thinker of the last 1000 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/461545.stm

 

[Atticus]

Easily Newton's equal in those fields they both shared, and a colossus in a whole number of completely different fields too:

Physics
Mathematics

You must have written that they didn't share these fields by accident, but did you actually mean that Newton would be even equal to Newton in physics?

 

[Tee Kay]

There's really too many to choose from.

Mathematician - not sure. There's a lot who revolutionise the field in their era. Al-Khwarezmi and Bharkhara deserves a mention, as do Pythagoras, Archimedes, Pascal, John Adams (guy who discover Neptune) etc.
Inventor - Also a lot here. Among the best, Da Vinci, Watt, Graham Bell, Edison, Tesla, Zhang Heng, Philo Farnsworth, Vladimir Zworykin and a lot of others.
Physicist - um... Einstein, Hawking. There's a lot of others I can't think of atm.
Musician - Mozart, Bach and other famous classical composers are the obvious here, but then again music isn't just limited to classical music.
Artist - too many, again.
Astronomer - probably Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus, al-Biruni, Tombaugh. There's also a lot of choices here.
Alchemist - don't know a lot about alchemy, but they're not generally successful anyway. The first people to turn one substance into another is actually Marie and Pierre Curie IIRC.

 

[Echse]

Immanuel Kant.

 

[Plotinus]

You must have written that they didn't share these fields by accident, but did you actually mean that Newton would be even equal to Newton in physics?

I expressed myself inelegantly - I meant that to be a list of the fields in which he excelled rather than simply those that Newton wasn't involved in. But I don't see why Leibniz shouldn't be Newton's equal in physics. For example, look at his involvement in the vis viva controversy and his demonstration, contra Cartesian orthodoxy, that force and motion are not the same thing. In fact, as I understand it, the modern notion of force really goes back to Leibniz.

 

[lovett]

I don't know. I've always had a soft spot for Tesla. As an inventor at least. Electricity, resonance and radio, ushering in the 20th century. All pretty good

But as a thinker, I rate Aristotle, for sheer breadth of brilliance.

 

[Arwon]

Emmy Noether
Simone de Beauvoir
Martha Nussbaum
Raya Dunayevskaya
Lise Meitner
Ayn Rand
Elizabeth Anscombe

OK, I'm kinda just making a point but still...

 

[sourboy]

Leonardo da Vinci

 

[sydhe]

I'm just throwing these out for discussion

Mathematician - Leonhard Euler. Wherever you go in mathematics, there's Euler making major advances or pioneering contributions.
Inventor - Michael Faraday
Physicist - Newton; Galileo
Musician - Bach, but Pythagorean theory underlined basic theory of harmony.
Artist - Picasso; Michelangelo; Filippo Brunelleschi
Astronomer - Newton and Galileo again,
Alchemist - Geber. There's also an alchemist known as "False Geber" who was also great.

Aristotle overall, Leibniz near the top. Blaise Pascal was amazingly adept at physics, mathematics and theology.

 

[Rambuchan]

The two that immediately sprang to mind were Aristotle and Ibn Sina (Avicenna).

 

[Godwynn]

Ibn Sina (Avicenna).

I have never heard of him. I'll do some research on this person, I enjoy reading about amazing people who did much to shape our present day.

Thanks!

 

[Godwynn]

Thanks to a wiki link, I meant to say Renaissance Man or Polymath!

Who was the greatest Renaissance Man or Woman?