A bit of a silly thing to say, even if it is tounge-and-cheek.
1- The line between political philosopher and political scientist in Machievalli's context is an arbitrary imposistion, however the most credible way to do it is to distinguish one from the other based on whether they used abstract reasoning or empirical evidence to come to their conclusion.
Although it would be true to say that Machievalli was a political scientist in the same way, say, Aristotle, was a scientist about empirical matters, he lived in a time before political philosophy became useless. Writers such as Locke, Volitare, and Marx were part of movements that, whilst they had little correlation with reality, were effective at creating change- in the case of Volitaire's French Revolution, triggering a definite net improvement in the long run over the old reigme. Prior to 1900, the thesis "Political philosophers are useless" is utterly silly.
2- A good philosopher (as opposed to a bad one) will clarify thinking on the matter concerned and, by getting rid of irrationalities existing in the subject matter, improve thought. Take Hume for an example of this. Philosophy is not astrology- done right, rare though that may be, it can be helpful.
A good philosopher (as opposed to a bad one) will clarify thinking on the matter concerned and, by getting rid of irrationalities existing in the subject matter, improve thought.
"The purpose of philosophy is to destroy philosophy."
-- me, right here
Since LessWrong is a major congregation point for certain philosophical ideas, and because people here tend to be more objective (in the sense of not being self-deluded) than elsewhere, I thought I'd ask people's views.
To be clear, by "Greatest Philosopher" I am referring not to the most correct philosopher in human history but the one who deserves the most credit for advancing human philosophy towards being more true.
Off the top of my head I would say that a prime candidate would be Hume- amongst other things he rejected the idea of a soul, realised to a much greater extent than his predecessors the limits of human knowledge, and opposed the idea that reason is somehow an objective force that can make priorities independent of emotions.
Aristotle deserves considerable credit relative for his time but doesn't make the list because although it wasn't his fault his ideas were dogmatically accepted and held back both science and philosophy later on.
Your thoughts?