Reason_Being Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 (edited) Challenge: compile a top 10 list of the most positively influential people in history, and a top 10 most negatively influential people in history. By "most influential people" I mean those whose ideas and/or actions have inspired the most significant cultural/intellectual movements on the largest scale. The value of his ideas and actions (which can be either positive or negative, determining which list the person belongs to), the number of people on which they had an effect, and the significance of the application of the his ideas are the main criteria in determining someone to be the "most influential." I don't yet know how my lists would look, but I have decided on who I would pick for #1 on both lists. Most positively influential: Aristotle Most negatively influenial: Jesus Christ Agree/disagree? Show me your lists. Edited December 29, 2011 by Reason_Being Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyTrooper Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 (edited) Most Negative Plato Jesus Christ The Prophet Mohammed Ibn Ghazali Timur Kant Marx Lenin Hitler FDR Most Positive Aristotle Avincina Thomas Aquinas John Locke Thomas Paine Thomas Jefferson George Washington W.T. Sherman Abraham Lincoln Ayn Rand I list Plato ahead of Jesus because Jesus didn't really innovate anything.. Christianity is just Platonism stripped of the positive Greek aspects. Christianity did take down the Roman Empire and cause untold destruction, so I list him second. Likewise with Mohammed: not an innovator, but still very bad. Ibn Ghazali deserves a special place in hell for ending the "Golden Age of Islam" which was the Aristotolian tradition rescued by Avincina. If Ghazali hadn't done that the Middle East would probably have produced the John Lockes and Thomas Jeffersons, instead of depending on the west to miraculously save itself from the Dark Ages. Thomas Aquinas deserves credit for ending the Dark Ages, and the rest should be self-explanatory. Edited December 29, 2011 by SkyTrooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reason_Being Posted December 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thank you. I like a lot of your choices but I would not put Ayn Rand on the list. While her works are very valuable, I think there are plenty of people who have had a larger influence. Some names that come to mind are: Einstein, Newton, Victoria, Churchhill and Da Vinci. Rand could very well go down as one of the most influential figures at some point in the future, but currently she's largely overshadowed in mainstream politics by the Keynesians, socialists, and the religious, and has not yet been properly received by academia. All this must change before I would consider her as one of the most influential people of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D'Ippolito Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thank you. I like a lot of your choices but I would not put Ayn Rand on the list. While her works are very valuable, I think there are plenty of people who have had a larger influence. I tend to agree. I'd put her high up on a list of people I wish had been influential. But not yet on a list of people who actually have been influential. I once heard John Lewis state that as of today, Objectivism wouldn't even rate a footnote in some future history book written about our times. And I am forced to agree. Hopefully a century from now, this will have changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitalistFred Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Negative: Mohammed St Paul Jesus Marx Plato Stalin Kant Isaac Newton Buddha Constantine Positive: Aristotle Thomas Jefferson Darwin Ben Franklin Adam Smith Locke Churchill Voltaire Gutenberg Columbus Just off the top of my head and as a jumping off point for dioscussion. I must note that Abraham Linmcoln nearly made it onto my list as a NEGATIVE influence - the man suspended habeas corpus, inprisoned protestors, instituted a draft, and was the closest thing the US has ever had to a dictator, but in the end I couldnt really defend his placement in the top 10, he would be in the top 20 I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Link Posted January 9, 2012 Report Share Posted January 9, 2012 Negative: Mohammed St Paul Jesus Marx Plato Stalin Kant Isaac Newton Buddha Constantine Why did you put Newton on your negative list? Do you hate calculus that much? And surely Hitler had a bigger negative influence than Newton. John Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitalistFred Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Oops! I had partaken in a few beers and evidently wasnt paying enough attention to my list - Newton was meant to be a good guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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