if you had to pick a philosopher to suggest someone to read who would it be? 17th century or sooner and not Freud or Nietzsche
Leibniz! For beginners, just wiki his name; and then, simply proceed to stand in awe of his breathtaking credentials' (all the while considering the time in which the man lived and breathed). Imo, he is the greatest philosopher (i.e., metaphysician, epistemologist, logician) to have ever lived (and not to mention, he created/designed the modern models for both calculus AND binary mathematics, i.e., the modern mathematical models for both infinitesimal calculus AND binary/digital computation [in-itself, this last fact should be enough to win anyone over]); regardless of the fact that his name was, somewhat, splotched (to superficial minds) by Voltaire. http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdfs/leibniz1705book1.pdf Here's a link to a preface of one of his writings' [the New Essays on Human Understanding]: in it, Leibniz explains (and with such a sober and lucid prose) how his philosophy, in contrast to John Locke's material-empirical philosophy, properly represents the actual means, and steps, by which we human beings come to have a knowledge of the world, and reality. In this mere preface, Leibniz annotates and critiques, one by one, the very same topics that, more or less, the father of modern empiricism (John Locke) chose to expound on in his magnum opus; all the way from the topic of 1) innate ideas (and the 'tabula rasa'), to 2) the epistemological bounds of experience, to 3) mathematical knowledge, to 4) the difference between the knowledge (and capacity for knowledge) of animals' and humans', to 5) the unconscious and the subconscious, to 6) the validity of induction, to 7) the principle of continuity, to 8) the question of the void and the plenum, to 9) the question of whether or not extended substance (matter) can think, to 10) the self-avowed ignorance within mechanical physics. And this is only supposed to be a preface..... to say the least!
I like the infamous Nietszche The way he describes society and all of its aspects are mind blowing I could do without the sexism tho That bullshit about his literature aiding the Nazi ideology... well it's semi true. He hated nazis and even refused to attend his sisters wedding cause she married a nazi. But it didn't stop them from using his nihilistic philosophy. Although the nazis are anything other than nihilistic.
Dietetics. It will change your life, make you broke, shun all you know and embark on a grand quest to learn about Xenu and how to free your mind of Thetans.
Jean Jacques Rousseau and specifically The Social Contract. Very fascinating ideas for a society, loved it.
I would say the idea of a master race conquering the world, and the whole ideology involved with that, isn't very nihilistic.
What about the lack of morality involved? The cynical destruction and inflicted misery? Or are you suggesting a true nihilist would never be as ambitious as the Nazis?
Well, when I think of nihilism, I think of meaninglessness. Like there is no meaning to reality. Nazis believed they were a super race, and had some sort of 'divine right' to conquer and 'purify' the world. As wrong and immoral as they may have been, they certainly had an ideology-driven purpose, which, to me, is contrary to nihilism.
Funny how nihilists thought it was worth writing down, perhaps the greatest nihilist philosopher is the one we never read about.
Haha, I did not understand you at first but then I got it. Yes, that is an interesting point. You could argue that if there were truly no meaning or purpose, why would you even feel compelled to write a bunch of stuff about that. That motivation to express implies a sense of meaning and purpose. And that one who had the deepest sense of that wouldn't even bother writing about it. If I'm understanding you correctly.