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A student who is graduating soon was talking with me today about what to read on his own once he is out of school. It got us to talking about what philosophers are “must read” philosophers. I thought it might be a fun little posting, at least for those that are into “lists”. It is March Madness, so it is the time of year for deciding best teams and arguing about snubs. So, let’s cap it at 8 (arbitrary, but long enough to cause some debate between lists but not so long that you can easily compose your list). Who are the 8 most important philosophers (I am thinking Western)? Post your list. You might even include justifications, and perhaps a second list of “bubble philosophers” (ones who were close to being on the list but did not quite make the cut).

UPDATE: Here’s another list of the top ten.

An interesting article praising the west by George Weigel can be found here.  He tries – amidst all the anti-west noise we hear from intellectuals – to defend Western Civilization by pointing out 6 reasons why the west is great.  Go ahead and praise – and READ from – your own tradition!  

The latest Philosophers’ Carnival can be found here. One interesting feature (beyond the question of whether “all western thought” really is Cartesian, and God vs. the double-slit eraser experiment in quantum mechanics) is the fact that this Carnival is hosted by an undergraduate at Mississippi State. Very impressive!

Martha Nussbaum has a new book out, Liberty of Conscience, which addresses the territory surrounding freedom of religion and the first amendment. An interesting review, by the editor of the Catholic First Things, can be found here. I have yet to see the book, but I admire Nussbaum greatly, and I think she is one of the best philosophers writing today.

There is an interesting discussion starting here about the difficulty of reading philosophy — an effort to compare notes about how each of us approaches the sometimes daunting task.