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Best Anglophone philosophers since 1957?

Brian Leiter

470 votes were cast, and here's the top ten:

1. W.V.O. Quine  (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices)
2. Saul Kripke  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 166–163
3. David K. Lewis  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 170–139, loses to Saul Kripke by 181–130
4. John Rawls  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 181–125, loses to David K. Lewis by 165–151
5. Hilary Putnam  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 196–112, loses to John Rawls by 163–146
6. Derek Parfit  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 204–103, loses to Hilary Putnam by 190–111
7. Bernard Williams  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 208–104, loses to Derek Parfit by 143–134
8. Donald Davidson  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 221–63, loses to Bernard Williams by 139–133
9. Thomas Nagel  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 218–88, loses to Donald Davidson by 128–123
10. P.F. Strawson  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 240–53, loses to Thomas Nagel by 138–117

David Lewis fans were caught rallying votes late in the process, thus displacing Rawls at #3!   G.E.M. Anscombe trailed P.F. Strawson by just five votes.  Filling out the top 20 were the following philosophers:

11. G.E.M. Anscombe  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 238–68, loses to P.F. Strawson by 125–120
12. Wilfrid Sellars  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 236–53, loses to G.E.M. Anscombe by 126–107
13. J.L. Austin  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 238–49, loses to Wilfrid Sellars by 120–105
14. Thomas Kuhn  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 236–44, loses to J.L. Austin by 120–104
15. Noam Chomsky  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 242–45, loses to Thomas Kuhn by 114–105
16. Robert Nozick  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 246–39, loses to Noam Chomsky by 113–104
17. Nelson Goodman  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 244–33, loses to Robert Nozick by 108–92
18. Daniel Dennett  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 248–35, loses to Nelson Goodman by 99–98
19. Jerry Fodor  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 253–28, loses to Daniel Dennett by 97–86
20. H. Paul Grice  loses to W.V.O. Quine by 244–27, loses to Jerry Fodor by 92–84

Only  five living philosophers made the top 20:  Kripke, Nagel, Chomsky, Dennett, and Fodor.  (Recall that among living philosophers, only those age 70 or older were included.

One response to “Best Anglophone philosophers since 1957?”

  1. Blast from the past: Best Anglophone philosophers since 1957 who were 70 or older in 2017 – Leiter Reports

    […] Back in 2017. […]

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