Who's the Smartest

I am quizzing Robbie right now on who the smartest people ever are. So far he's said

Shakespeare vs. Plato : Plato

Socrates vs. Plato: Not qualified to answer. Pussy answer. I think this would require an analysis of

Socrates in Xenophon and others vs. Socrates in Plato. But maybe not: Plato had to understand everything that Socrates told him in order to write it down. When pressed, Robbie is now saying Plato, because without Plato, Socrates wouldn't have been anything. Moreover, Robbie says "I think Socrates was completely transformed in Plato. To reconstruct him as he does in the Dialogues is genius". Ok, fine.

Shakespeare vs. Nietzsche: Nietzsche. I tend to agree, but need to read more Shakespeare.

Allan Bloom vs. Paul Wolfowitz: Bloom.

Robbie asks: Bloom or Saul Bellow: I say Bloom. Robbie sez Bloom too.

Controversial Statement: "Idiots make great literature... I don't respect artistic creativity as much as I respect philosophic creativity, though the two are often intertwined".

Suggests using tiers of genius: 1st tier: Shakespeare, Plato, Nietzsche. Lower tier: Bellow, Bloom.

On the question of Cervantes: "You could definitely argue for first tier, but second." Also on second tier: Rousseau.

Where's Einstein: "Science, wow. Yeah, that's first tier. Newton, first tier"

me: "What about Leibniz?"
Robbie: "The calculus was good but his stupid philosophy puts him in fourth or fifth"

All quotes are approximate. Deal with it. Also, I would like to point out that this post is sort of a post about posts, among other things. I make no claim to saying anything profound on this blog. Wilde said that all bad poetry was sincere. This blog will attempt at least mild sincerity. Maybe.