Third Best Philosopher Ever

I have suggested, tentatively, that Bertrand Russell is the second-best philosopher ever, but it would be nice to say who gets the bronze medal. Reflecting more on my admiration of Russell, I came to a melancholy conclusion: the only philosophical work of his that I really like is The Problems of Philosophy (and I suspect it is the work of his most widely read today). His youthful writing is the best. This made me reconsider his contemporary Gottlob Frege. Wittgenstein famously wrote in the preface to the Tractatus: “I am indebted to Frege’s great works and to the writings of my friend Mr. Bertrand Russell for much of the stimulation of my thoughts”. I was reluctant to put Frege in the silver medal position because of the narrowness of his interests, and I stick by that decision; but I think that if Frege had ventured further afield into traditional philosophy, he would have produced work of comparable quality to his logical work. So, I am inclined to put him into third position. He introduced a new level of clarity and rigor into philosophical thinking and was highly original in his contributions. His influence on my own work has been greater than Russell’s. He made himself indispensable. Two articles by Frege are worth any number of volumes from lesser figures. If only he had spread himself more widely, he might have captured the number one spot!