Your Friendly Neighbourhood Philosopher

Deleuze and Guattari (D&G) note that the word "philo-sopher" comes from the Greek for "friend of wisdom". But how would philosophers fare as friends of people? In befriending a philosopher, would one also come closer to becoming friends with wisdom?

What criteria would we adopt in choosing philosophers as friends? The quality of their ideas or their writing? Their personalities or even their actual track record as friends to others? All valid considerations. Perhaps we shouldn't isolate any of these variables, and must instead treat each philosopher as a whole, as a person, which is surely what friendship demands of us. If, as Aristotle says, the best life is one engaged in reason, and true friendship is that in which persons of similar character exercise their virtues together, then philosophers are uniquely suited for friendship. These, then, are my choices in chronological order.
David Hume - His ideas regarding the problem of induction, the is-ought gap, and the impossibility of miracles remain today the bedrock of all good philosophy. Furthermore, those ideas reflect his intellectual humility in true skepticism, and are also precepts for others who aspire to such humility. A man who lives by his principles makes a good friend.

Friedrich Nietzsche - Not that original an answer, yet much maligned by the community at large. Nietzsche was a very genuine man who had the strength to live with his suffering and still think at the highest level (unlike his onetime idol Schopenhauer obviously). His trenchant critiques of conventional morality are well-noted, as are his brilliant aphorisms. One could gossip with him about women all day long in light of his idea of them as "dangerous playthings". Ultimately, Nietzsche believed that man was something to be overcome, a goal with which I am aligned. For that, I could see a great friendship blossoming.

Paul Valéry - Valéry is usually considered a poet rather than a philosopher, but he had a lot of deeply philosophical ideas in his essays. Every morning he jotted down thoughts on diverse topics in his legendary notebooks, which I would love to discuss with him as a fellow notebook-philosopher.

Ludwig Wittgenstein - Maybe in friendship with him one can finally discover what he meant by the unwritten part of his work, which he claimed to be the more important part.

Gilles Deleuze - Very wide-ranging thinker, and (along with his pal Guattari of D&G fame) the archetypal conceptwhore. His collaborations with Guattari also lead me to think our friendship would be a fruitful one.

Ronald Dworkin - His interpretative theory of values would leave us with a lot of room to discuss what constitutes the good life, and also a lot of trolleys to stop.

Daniel Dennett - Maybe as an uncle rather than a friend. Dennett has a breadth of philosophical interests, and his thinking is informed by science and done without nonsense, both sadly scarce traits these days.

David Deutsch - Again, not a philosopher by trade, but a quantum physicist. One of the rare breed of scientists who understands that science (all thinking, perforce) comes with philosophical baggage, and respects the role of philosophy in coming to a true picture of the world. His current work on constructor theory can be thought to straddle the boundary between physics and metaphysics. His thoughts in epistemology, ethics, politics, and even aesthetics are interesting, and expressed always with the maximum of lucidity and brevity. Yet his mini-play (in The Beginning of Infinity) starring Socrates, Hermes, and Plato display a characteristic wit and brilliance. All of which make me think he could be great to have as a friend.

Massimo Pigliucci - That man speaks sense. A philosopher who understands the value of science and the necessity of naturalism in doing philosophy.

Slavoj Žižek - Just for the LOLs. Conversations in philosophy and pop culture will segue and weave into each other, always bordering on the insane, always epiphanous. And who can forget his repertoire of philosophical jokes!