Philosopher's Highest Score on the LSAT Forum

[homestyle28]

Kripke.

[Odd Future Wolf Gang]

What about DERRIDA brothers?

DECONSTRUCTING DAT LSAT.

[TTTLS]

I want to say Kant. Wittgenstein though would probably be a more appealing applicant to an admissions committee, with his personal statement focusing on his time as a POW.

[Tom Joad]

Ayn Rand with only 1 other vote besides mine?

TLS trolls you have forsaken me.

[twenty]

Where the frack is Bertrand Russell? I would bet anything he'd get a 180 first go around.

[albusdumbledore]

I want to say Kant. Wittgenstein though would probably be a more appealing applicant to an admissions committee, with his personal statement focusing on his time as a POW.

Wittgenstein would certainly have a hell of a personal statement. But Kant's that 180/4.0 guy who never did anything except sit in his room and study. And maybe go for an occasional stroll across campus.

[Joeshan520]

Nietzsche was a tenured professor at age 24, I think that would make for a hell of a personal statement.

[emptyflare]

Bertrand Russell or John Stuart Mill

Mill's childhood genius is pretty eye-popping. Skim over the first 9 paragraphs of his Wikipedia biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill.

[Joeshan520]

I read Mill's "Autobiography". His father sounded like a complete dick.

[charliep]

ooo leibniz. he invented calculus independently from newton, so im sure he could handle the games

[emptyflare]

I read Mill's "Autobiography". His father sounded like a complete dick.

Tiger-dad to a whole new level

[ams212]

Seriously anyone who has ever read Ayn Rand (good books, very flawed philosophy) would know she doesn't belong on this list.

[stillwater]

Ayn Rand is a hack.

[Applying_Late]

Motherf'in Kant is turning in his grave right now, shouting "how is Ayn Rand in the philosopher category!?" She was a novelist at best.

[RedBirds2011]

Seriously anyone who has ever read Ayn Rand (good books, very flawed philosophy) would know she doesn't belong on this list.

Have you read her nonfiction or just atlas and fountainhead? She certainly has flawed ideas like anyone, but she is definitely pretty intelligent. Just because you don't agree with her doesn't mean she doesn't have the intelligence for a good LSAT score.

[top30man]

Ayn Rand is a hack.

[albusdumbledore]

Seriously anyone who has ever read Ayn Rand (good books, very flawed philosophy) would know she doesn't belong on this list.

Have you read her nonfiction or just atlas and fountainhead? She certainly has flawed ideas like anyone, but she is definitely pretty intelligent. Just because you don't agree with her doesn't mean she doesn't have the intelligence for a good LSAT score.

Ayn Rand is a hack.

[Band A Long]

Leibnez / Wittingstein / Russell are all solid answers IMHO

[RedBirds2011]

Seriously anyone who has ever read Ayn Rand (good books, very flawed philosophy) would know she doesn't belong on this list.

Have you read her nonfiction or just atlas and fountainhead? She certainly has flawed ideas like anyone, but she is definitely pretty intelligent. Just because you don't agree with her doesn't mean she doesn't have the intelligence for a good LSAT score.

Ayn Rand is a hack.

I'm assuming you probably never actually read her in any detail. Maybe fountainhead or maybe I'm wrong, but as someone who has read every one of her books and is a critic of much of what she says, I still get pretty annoyed with how often a lot of supposed critics often completely miss the point and don't actually get her at all.

Edit: it also helps to know her personal history and where she came from. It explains A LOT on why she has the radical view points she has.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

Where the frack is Bertrand Russell? I would bet anything he'd get a 180 first go around.

Wittgenstein had more brainpower than Russell. Neither of the two would have disagreed with that. I would probably rather hang out with and be friends with Russell, but wittgenstein was a freak of nature when it came to intelligence.

His criticism, 'tho I don't think he realized it at the time, was an event of first-rate importance in my life, and affected everything I have done since. I saw that he was right, and I saw that I could not hope ever again to do fundamental work in philosophy.

[MachineLemon]

Russell and Gödel should probably be on the list.

[RedBirds2011]

Russell and Gödel should probably be on the list.

+1

[Applying_Late]

Seriously anyone who has ever read Ayn Rand (good books, very flawed philosophy) would know she doesn't belong on this list.

Have you read her nonfiction or just atlas and fountainhead? She certainly has flawed ideas like anyone, but she is definitely pretty intelligent. Just because you don't agree with her doesn't mean she doesn't have the intelligence for a good LSAT score.

I don't think that's the problem. The problem is that she's listed amongst top philosophers, and she just doesn't belong in that list at all. So many novelists--Camus, Kafka, and Huxley are three that come to mind--can be considered intelligent and even have some philosophical tendencies but would never be considered as philosophers. I think many people would put Camus, Kafka, and Huxley above Ayn Rand in terms of philosophical contributions (and they would definitely rank those three authors as stronger and better novelists than Rand).

[albusdumbledore]

I'm assuming you probably never actually read her in any detail. Maybe fountainhead or maybe I'm wrong, but as someone who has read every one of her books and is a critic of much of what she says, I still get pretty annoyed with how often a lot of supposed critics often completely miss the point and don't actually get her at all.

She's not a philosopher, but I'll be totally honest--I've never read one of her books. Whereas I've read multiple works by almost all of the rest of the list. She's always struck me as high school english class fodder. I would have been laughed out of the room if I'd told one of my philosophy profs I wanted to write a paper on Ayn Rand.

[CincinnatusND]