Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Rousseau and Paine... But, only would I consider Paine, and Spinoza "heroes". Schopenhauer and Rousseau are two men, whose train's of thought, I greatly admire and appreciate; I wouldn't consider them "heroes".
I also forgot to include Sartre, his works on Existentialism are by far some of the most captivating works of contemporary philosophy. Morten Schlick is also another one. Nietzsche is a very interesting read, but I find it hard to think of his works as philosophical when even he himself didn't think of them as that.
Kant, Chomsky, Wittgenstein and Menachem M. Schneerson Mostly radically different in their philosophies (the last especially so) but their writings have brought illumination to my life, so who cares
Carl Sagan. I also enjoy Sartre. I also don't really agree with his stance on a lot of things but the way Ralph Waldo Emerson used words always had a profound effect on me.
What the heck, no Epicurus, Diogenes or Aurelius? I love reading about these guys, it doesn't leave my brain hurting and I finish feeling uplifted.
Nietzsche, Mckenna and Osho. And I would include Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Bill Hicks and John Lennon but these are not actually philosophers...
they expressed a philosophy or sets of philosophical principles - plus they probably considered themselves philosophers
dostoevsky, kierkegaard, lyotard, heidegger, nietzsche, sartre... btw, kant > hume, although both of them needed work... confusing guys but so interesting.
Well Osho didn't consider himself a philosopher, he said: "I am not a philosopher. The philosopher thinks about things. It is a mind approach. My approach is a no-mind approach. It is seeing through a clarity that comes when you put your mind aside"
A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy. Aldous Huxley