Greatest People of All Time

[AlexM]

That caveman who figured out how to build a fire.

[vhawk01]

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btw, because i am not mature enough for SMP,

in before "jesus"

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I'm willing to stipulate Jesus just because I am too tired for the discussion that follows whenever Jesus is mentioned.

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I love an atheist with a sense of humor. NH.

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Well, what I meant was I didn't want this thread to turn into a debate about the historicity of Jesus. We've done that before, and it seemed like a major hijack. If we don't grant his historicity he cant be part of the list. Santa Claus doesnt make it even though he is wildly influential. In reality I think it is totally unfair to include Jesus in this list because there is absolutely no reason to think that the Jesus on the Roman ledger is the same as the Jesus in the Bible, but whatever.

EDIT: Ugh Milo already claimed Santa Claus. Ok then I say the bogeyman.

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I took your post as just busting stones and took it as tongue in cheek. I wasn’t being sarcastic.

So, you think His quotes (all, some or none) in the Bible are not legitimate quotes, regardless of their interpretations? Don’t want to hi-jack. A simple yes or no will do.

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I think it is almost impossible that any of the quotes in the Bible are word-for-word accurate. I guess a few, just by chance. And all of that is even assuming there ever was a person who uttered any of those words. For which there is, of course, no evidence. All of the corroborating evidence supports the idea that some guy named Jesus may have lived around that time. None of that is in any way supportive of the fact that he said any of those words or performed any of those acts. There very likely WAS someone named Hercule Poirot at some point.

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I guess you’re right. Jimi Hendrix won’t have existed 2000 years from now either.

I wasn’t going to hi-jack, then I though, with no offense intended to DaisyDog, this really isn’t a thread for SMP. More of an ELD type of thread. And the point of the post was to generate discussion anyway.

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This argument would hold more water if it weren't for Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Augustus, Tiberius, most of the Egyptian kings and pharaohs, Hammurabi, and so on.

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The contemporaneous importance of Jesus was no where near the degree of your examples. What noted author of the day would write much about a guy in Galilee with a handful of followers? I would think the historians would be more interested in Kings and scholars; let alone folk like Plato who published their own work.

My point is that Jesus had some impact during his short life. But, really, his following at the time was relatively minor.

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Maybe. Who knows, amirite? Thats kind of the point. Its easy for you to theorize the existence of some marginal character in history since you have the perfect alibi for lack of evidence.

[WuTank]

ALSO I NOMINATE BUDDHA AND BACK ON TOPIC BITCHES

[RJT]

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ALSO I NOMINATE BUDDHA AND BACK ON TOPIC BITCHES

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Settle down, you are lucky this thread wasn’t moved in the first place – to say ELD or the Lounge. Not really an SMP topic. And, btw you didn’t answer the “why” part of the OP.

[bunny]

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ALSO I NOMINATE BUDDHA

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No fair, he had lots of tries to get it right. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[scv]

Noone mentioned Albert Camus yet?

[hexag1]

Newton and/or Darwin.

Their ideas have had the more influence on the course of human history, both philosophically and practically. Much for the betterment of mankind, in my view.
Coincidentally (or perhaps not??) they were both Brits.

I would put Einstein up there, but it seems to me that Newton's primacy in the realm of physics cannot be denied.

I like what Hitchens says about Darwin: (paraphrased):
"Darwin and Lincoln were born on the same day, but who has proven to be the greater liberator?"

If we weren't just talking about intellectual influence, I would say that Leonardo was the greatest genius / most creative thinker.

Actually, now that I think of it, if we're are to include how admirable these men were, I could take Newton down a peg and move Einstein up. Ive learned from reading his political writings (see "Ideas and Opinions" and "Out of My Later Years") that as well as being a scientific genius, he was also a wonderful moral and political philosopher. See also Walter Isaacson's biography of him.

[hexag1]

it was already said above, but also whoever discovered how to make fire and whoever figured out agriculture.

[Keepitsimple]

wow, I cant believe maxwell hasnt been mentioned yet. He is up there with newton imo. really elite.

[Phil153]

I think Bill Clinton is up there. He has a superb intelligence and an amazing insight into politics and people. Possibly the finest public intellect of modern times.