where are todays great thinkers?

[Kells]

Stephen Hawking.

Michio Kaku. Or maybe that's just because he completely loses me within 3 chapters. Edited because that doesn't say where they are. I hope there are some in the financial sector, obviously theoretical physicists think.

[SteveT]

reggie wrote:-

strange how you are equating thinkers to economists methinks thinking is on a higher plane than where our economy is heading just a thought

Why! You can think on the toilet reggie:)

[angetastic]

.

[plimsoul]

is it just this nation? surely that applies to most of the west and a bit beyond?

[Nero]

Tony.London.Suburbs

Louisa

The very patriotic man who types stuff up and pastes it near on bus shelters and boarded up shop fronts

Need I continue?

[garden man]

I am led to believe that there are over 750 enlightened people in the world today,the majority of whom are from India.It is from the East that the oldest & most successful philosophies come.My philosophy tutor tells me we are all enlightened,we just dont realize it,so maybe we need to look no further than The East Dulwich forum for our answers!! Religion holds all the great truths,unfortunately they dont want us to know them,or we just might realize how free we really are.We are in a period of darkness as far as universal growth is concerned,but like everything,all is passing.It strikes me there are many brilliant minds on the forum,find yourselves a system and you will find your own answers from your own experiences.

Nigel

[Curly]

Great thinkers are not great talkers.

[rifleman harris]

She's in the kitchen where she belongs

[The Chair]

Please stay on topic

[Huguenot]

I wonder whether the question itself is oxymoronic?

To be a 'great' surely you require the qualification of legacy - something you're unlikely to achieve in your own lifetime.

More than that, can thought itself be great? Certainly linguistic expression and artful arguments can be great - but it's a learned skill not a talent - and doesn't necessarily require great thinking.

And even then, what would make it great - that it is persuasive? That's one step further: an action not a contemplation.

And then would the act of persuasion be great in isolation - does it need to be judged by history as essentially constructive to be 'great'?

[plimsoul]

not being a great 'articulator' i was thinking more in terms of since the economic crash there does not seem to be a debate regarding alternative systems or ways of ordering things. i wondered whether this is part due to the fact that there are no 'philospohers' (for want of a better word to describe people who are turned to for an opinion as that's what they do, think).

but fair play huguenot, it's true, legacy counts for a lot. but i remain surprised at the lack of any new ideology rising from the financial ashes. trying to maintain the status quo seems to have been the only outcome.

[SteveT]

Enoch Powell was considered to be one of the greatest thinkers that ever went into parliament,

and he was hounded out mainly because they were terrified of what he had to say.

I would suggest that any great thinkers around these parts would be well advised to keep silent, lest the same happens again, as history has a habit of repeating itself.

[mockney piers]

Eh? Enoch left the Tories for taking us into the EC, he wasn't hounded out of anything.

He continued to serve as an MP until the late 80s when his great thinking included accusing the CIA of murdering Mountbatten. Yeeeeeeesss.

He lost his seat because the electorate weren't interested in what he ahd to say, not because they couldn't handle the truth or some nonsense.

But nice attempt at twisting reality.

I assume by great thinkers in these parts you refer to yourself?

Still waiting to see those rivers of blood mind.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Well, that and being wrong. I'm not too keen on his links with them terrrrrists in Northern Ireland either

[????]

Steve T

Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech was not 'great thinking'..it was deeply unpleasant political opportunism by a man who absolutely realised the effect it would have..one of which was to make life significantly more unpleasant, the very next day, for many people from ethnic minorities.

[SteveT]

Yeah but other than that, what do you think of him?

[????]

I don't think he was a great thinker...he certainly wasn't a great man

[Huguenot]

In fact he could almost be characterised as sulky, small minded and vain. He certainly had superiority complex (a neurotic mechanism for compensation for feelings of inferiority).

It all went wrong when we gave India independence (he wanted to be the Governor General an put the locals in their place).

After that he saw traitors everywhere, mainly to project his own inadequacies onto others.

He always said that he wished he'd died in the war. He clearly saw himself as a glorious hero, but didn't want to get found out by actually being alive. It's kind of a meoldramatic, self-obsessed suicide. If he was a member of your family you'd probably think of him as the annoying attention seeking one.

[The Chair]

If anyone wants to discuss Enoch Powell further then please start a new thread.