My Ideal Philosopher

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My Ideal Philosopher

       Bertrand Arthur William Russell (b.1872 – d.1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist and social critic best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. Russell is generally recognized as one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy.[1]

      He became one of my favorites because of his saying "Common sense, however it tries, cannot avoid being surprised from time to time". It's similar to Socrates' saying "I know that I know nothing" in the sense that even with the knowledge available to us through advances in science and technology, we can't help but be surprised by new knowledge. Sometimes common sense isn't the only basis for judgement.  Common sense, in itself is unexplainable because the word common varies from one person to another.

Reference: 

1 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell/