Great Thinkers
Famous Thinkers Paper
Stuart Mackey
PHL 458
November 5, 2012
Lia Leon Margolin
Famous Thinkers Paper
In today’s society, kids are faced with many distractions, such as partying and having fun, which can prevent them from learning about history’s great thinkers. Great thinkers have been around for thousands of years. They range from Confucius (551-471 BC) and Plato (428 to c. 348 BC) to more modern great thinkers of Bill Gates (1955-present) and Richard Rorty (1931-2007). According to "Do You Have The Traits Of Great Thinkers And Innovators Who Shaped The World" (2009), most great thinkers tend to display a certain set of characteristics such as open mindedness, sense of curiosity, independent thinking, imagination, and vision. Most importantly they all have great critical thinking and creative thinking skills. In this paper I will talk about the contributions to society, the environmental growth factors of each, the problems and solutions they addressed, and the creative process’ of the two great thinkers Bill Gates and Richard Rorty. In the process of doing this, I will provide a critique of their ideas and what they could have done differently. Bill Gates and Richard Rorty have both made major impacts in society.
Bill Gates grew up in a well-educated environment with his dad as a lawyer and mother as a school teacher. He first took an interest in computer science in middle school at a private school in Seattle, Washington. This interest later grew when he met his friend, and future business colleague, Paul Allen. According to "Bill Gates Biography" (2012), “Gates’ early experiences with computers included debugging (eliminating errors from) programs for the Computer Center Corporation 's PDP-10, helping to computerize electric power grids for the Bonneville Power Administration, and founding with Allen a firm called Traf-O-Data while still in high school.” These early experiences with computers helped contribute to his creativity and understanding
Stuart Mackey
PHL 458
November 5, 2012
Lia Leon Margolin
Famous Thinkers Paper
In today’s society, kids are faced with many distractions, such as partying and having fun, which can prevent them from learning about history’s great thinkers. Great thinkers have been around for thousands of years. They range from Confucius (551-471 BC) and Plato (428 to c. 348 BC) to more modern great thinkers of Bill Gates (1955-present) and Richard Rorty (1931-2007). According to "Do You Have The Traits Of Great Thinkers And Innovators Who Shaped The World" (2009), most great thinkers tend to display a certain set of characteristics such as open mindedness, sense of curiosity, independent thinking, imagination, and vision. Most importantly they all have great critical thinking and creative thinking skills. In this paper I will talk about the contributions to society, the environmental growth factors of each, the problems and solutions they addressed, and the creative process’ of the two great thinkers Bill Gates and Richard Rorty. In the process of doing this, I will provide a critique of their ideas and what they could have done differently. Bill Gates and Richard Rorty have both made major impacts in society.
Bill Gates grew up in a well-educated environment with his dad as a lawyer and mother as a school teacher. He first took an interest in computer science in middle school at a private school in Seattle, Washington. This interest later grew when he met his friend, and future business colleague, Paul Allen. According to "Bill Gates Biography" (2012), “Gates’ early experiences with computers included debugging (eliminating errors from) programs for the Computer Center Corporation 's PDP-10, helping to computerize electric power grids for the Bonneville Power Administration, and founding with Allen a firm called Traf-O-Data while still in high school.” These early experiences with computers helped contribute to his creativity and understanding
References: Bill Gates Biography. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.notablebiographies.com/FiGi/Gates-Bill.html Do you have the Traits of Great Thinkers and Innovators Who Shaped the World. (2009). Retrieved from http://theinvisiblementor.com/2009/09/09/do-you-have-the-traits-of-great-thinkers-and-innovators-who-shaped-the-world/ Richard Rorty. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/509588/Richard-Rorty Richard Rorty. (2012). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Rorty Richard Rorty. (2006). Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/rorty/#H3