The Blackberry Walk

In the realm of ideas, philosophy takes on an ascendant role; it's widely considered the best, or at least most formal, way to convey ideas, even though, as we will discuss, this hasn't always been the case. Despite the renaissance's revivification of the classics the humanism, how many renaissance philosophers can you name? Sure there were some, but the renaissance wasn't conveyed through the medium of philosophy - primarily, it was conveyed through art and sculpture. The medieval era's ideas are told through theology, through scripture, but the ideas and interpretations that arose between theologians could still possess a vast breadth of difference. And what about in more primitive societies? Undoubtedly there were thoughts and opinions on how the world works which have been lost with the death of their oral traditions. But their understanding was most likely explicated through myth - not philosophy. Really, it was in the antiquity of Rome and Greece where we saw philosophy as we today understand it blossom, and again in the enlightenment era where philosophy took centre stage with numerous philosophers like Des Cartes, Hume, Locke, Kant, and Hegel. But the Victorian era? There's only really three philosophers that are famous: John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Nietzsche, who was never famous within his lifetime, nor within the Victorian era. Both are very influential, sure, but with so few names which have lasted, the Victorian era wasn't an era of philosophers. Famous Victorians who shaped their cultures include the politicians like Gladstone, painters like the Pre-Raphaelites, poets like the Romantics, authors like Dickens, and scientists like Darwin, all of whom posited revolutionary ideas not through philosophy, but rather through their respective fields. The names of the first half of the 20th century are so multitudinous they needn't be named; the spirit and distress of the era blossomed revolutionary ideas shaping the world as we now see it. But what about today? Does anyone know any contemporary philosophers? These figures of the past were famous in their own time, so why wouldn't the philosophers of today? Again, philosophy has fallen out of ascendancy: the ideas in our culture are being conveyed through other means. Where? I'll leave that as an open questions. It may be through YouTube, through podcasts, through Netflix, through politics, or wherever else. But wherever the ideas of the present come from, it's important to stick our fingers to the air, to trace the direction of the winds blowing the Zeitgeist.