[The Greatest Philosopher in the History of Philosophy]

[Bree Fletcher]

There are lots of great thinkers, but that does not make them philosophers. A philosopher spends their life in the pursuit of philosophical enlightenment. Einstein was a great thinker, but he's a physicist. Freud was a great thinker, but he was a psychologist. Darwin was a great thinker, but he was a natural historian and geologist.

Lots of people are great thinkers, and they have had thoughts that can be applied to philosophical discussions. But, I would not call them philosophers. Just be careful not to let your definition of a philosopher get too broad, otherwise you will have to include EVERYONE. And if everyone is a philosopher, then noone might as well be a philosopher.

Granted, but I could still make a case for broadening the definition presented in this thread slightly. The fact is, there's some people that write philisophical works that are so obvious they might as well have a big red stamp on them proclaiming them so. Then there's some people that address almost the exact same questions, but don't say so in such a blatant manner. The latter is what is being left out.

Terry writes fantasy books, doesn't he? Depends on what you define a "good" thinker as.

Well, if you address the same questions as any other accepted philosopher in your books, how are you not one? This is what I mean by narrow-minded; your instant assumption is that fiction and philosophy cannot be one and the same. Yes, Discworld has FANTASY written all over it, as oppossed to I R PHILOSOPHIZOR like all those names up top have put on their books. But that's just his way of approaching it from a different angle.

Again, I assert that Pratchett is a philosopher for tackling the same questions and problems as any other. I am yet to have someone show me why he doesn't, in fact, do so.