A Quick Acknowledgement

Since I've been billing myself as a fresh start in philosophy (indeed, just like every other philosopher, I consider myself the first to get it completely right), I might as well take a moment to prove my own marketing wrong by acknowledging those philosophers to whom I owe a great deal of my ideas:

Hobbes and Descartes: I owe to them the idea of axiomatic philosophy inspired by mathematics

Bentham: I owe to him (one of the few I can really agree with) my utilitarianism

Hume: I owe to him the general direction of my system (passions expressed through reason)

Popper: I owe to him my analysis of scientific progress

Yudkowsky: I owe to him my views on scientific progress

Rand: I owe to her my individualistic and self-centered focus

Marx: I owe to him my general background (as I am a citizen of the People's Republic of Berkeley)

Yeah. I'm that unoriginal.