individuals WITH a thinking mindset
01-11-2024
A selected group of individuals who demonstrate a thinking mindset.
By applying Jung’s conception of the principle of thinking we have selected a group of individuals who demonstrate primarily a thinking mindset with regard to decision-making. This has been done through a keenly observed and carefully considered selection process. Although the “innermost natures” of these individuals are “separated by stellar distances” and they themselves are “to a very large extent different from one another” (CW 6, par. 851), they all share primarily a thinking approach to problems and decision-making. Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris are grouped together as a sample of thinkers because they are included in our initial case material. For reasons that will later become apparent, Robert Lawrence Kuhn has been added to this group.
The thinking mindset presents definite nuances. A much finer differentiation of thinking is demonstrable by relating two additional principles to the already discussed basic principle of thinking. Dawkins, Kuhn, Dennett and Harris represent the four different typical nuances of the thinking mindset.
LIST OF THINKERS
An extended list of individuals who are oriented to the principle of thinking is presented here in alphabetical order that serve as examples. Each of them displays a thinking mindset and therefore approaches problems and makes decisions according to the principle of thinking:
Jacques Baud
Former Swiss intelligence officer and military officer who is a specialist in Eastern Europe. He worked in the Swiss strategic intelligence service and later headed United Nations peacekeeping operations. He is also known for his writings and his commentary on military and strategic affairs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAFI4YTkYBU
Mark Carney
Canadian politician and economist who has served as the 24th and current prime minister of Canada since 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jT3WnQqiuI
Noam Chomsky
American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called “the father of modern linguistics”. Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVXLo9gJq-U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olbbhTSwDIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ-Crh3rdQA
Patricia Churchland
Canadian-American analytic philosopher noted for her contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su9K5cwt8Dw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt1dnZnJTKY
Hillary Clinton
American politician and diplomat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M3Itgp8G8s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxtxs9wgDEE
Sevim Dağdelen
German politician and a member of the Bundestag. She was elected for Left Party and switched in October 2023 to Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0e2IfJp8QQ
Lorraine Daston
American historian of science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9FlWiBAmJY
Richard Dawkins
British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, and author.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKjiSu4zD5Y
Daniel Dennett
American philosopher and cognitive scientist. (Recently demised).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSaEjLZIDqc
Ophelia Deroy
Professor of Philosophy of Mind at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a member of the Graduate School in Systemic Neuroscience in Munich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0idcQXGvIRU
Jennifer Doudna
American Biochemist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gj6LXodR-c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMndqLvTqhA
Willie Esterhuyse
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch. He has also been associated with the Graduate School of Business of the Stellenbosch University as well as University of Cape Town – UCT where he taught business ethics. Esterhuyse was also a longtime columnist for the financial magazine, F & T Weekly, Die Burger, Beeld and Die Volksblad on ethical and socio-political issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM9FiPEgBVc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T8LMw-X3cc
Richard Feynman
American theoretical physicist (demised)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ww1IXRfTA
Tulsi Gabbard
American politician and military officer serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021, having previously served in Hawaii Army National Guard from 2003 to 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHQD4mUZrLg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w01QRhD3e0
Michael Gazzaniga
American psychologist who is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he heads the new SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. He is one of the leading researchers in cognitive neuroscience, the study of the neural basis of mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auBinnhKSuo
Susan Haack
Philosopher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOc8cNydo2o
Sam Harris
American neuroscientist, philosopher, author and podcast host
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V50kUIW_HM
Shirley Penrose Hodgson
British geneticist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYu_kWbd61c
Sabine Hossenfelder
German theoretical physicist, philosopher of science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3UNPOG3ZJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGwdUCYzgw
Karen Kwiatkowski
American activist and commentator. She is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel whose assignments included duties as a Pentagon desk officer and a variety of roles for the National Security Agency.
https://www.youtube.com/live/cD7cs2du3U0?si=2sCNjtVVM6zPrpCU
Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Public intellectual, corporate strategist, and investment banker. He is also an author, editor, a TV-producer, a columnist and commentator, especially on topics related to China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDSUcOkFbZg
Sergey Lavrov
Russian diplomat who has served as the foreign minister of Russia since 2004.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmgDf6QiCps
John Loannidis
Greek-American physician-scientist, writer and Stanford University professor who has made contributions to evidence-based medicine, epidemiology, and clinical research. Ioannidis studies scientific research itself; meta-research primarily in clinical medicine and the social sciences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uok-7NPFn4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b63gj3Vsf34
Fyodor Lukyanov
Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, a Research Professor at the Higher School of Economics, Editor in Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs Journal, and the Research Director at the Valdai Discussion Club.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRhgBdoO-AA
Douglas Macgregor
Retired colonel in the United States Army, government official, author, consultant, and political commentator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxO7aKj2OGIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Xuo4Jf_lw
Henry Markram
South African-born Israeli neuroscientist, professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland and director of the Blue Brain Project and founder of the Human Brain Project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1XcY-xAvos
Elon Musk
Businessman and investor. He is the founder, chairman, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO, product architect, and former chairman of Tesla, Inc.; owner, executive chairman, and CTO of X Corp.; founder of the Boring Company and xAI; co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI; and president of the Musk Foundation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2meHtrO1n8
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VHu3EO6f3JI
Thomas Nagel
American philosopher. He is the University Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at New York University, where he taught from 1980 until his retirement in 2016. His main areas of philosophical interest are political philosophy, ethics and philosophy of mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj_7ZCNUlCU
Reza Pahlavi
Iranian opposition leader and a proponent of liberal democracy in Iran. He is the current Leader of the Iranian Transitional Government since February 2025. A member of the Pahlavi dynasty, he is the eldest son of Farah Diba and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last shah of Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWQ3hnJLZQ
Roger Penrose
British mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnXUuyfPK2A
Vladimir Putin
Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYfByTcY49k
Hilary Putnam
American philosopher, mathematician, computer scientist and figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He contributed to the studies of philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3gtfO-bcuQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLrVxNlUxBo
Susan Polgar
Hungarian-American chess grandmaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X54KQ7eOxKM
Dmitry Polyanskiy
Deputy Ambassador for United Nations in Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ1QfVEY94I
Carlo Rovelli
Italian theoretical physicist and writer who has worked in Italy, the United States, France and Canada. He is currently a Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy of Western University in Canada, and Fractal Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB8yhZSt9o0
Jeffrey Sachs
American economist and public policy analyst who is a professor at Columbia University, where he was former director of The Earth Institute. He worked on the topics of sustainable development and economic development.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHh3yzypvpQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks0l_Zpt1xA
Herbert Simon
Was an American political scientist whose work also influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organizations and he is best known for the theories of “bounded rationality” and “satisficing”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-naBUbhUEs
Edward Snowden
An American and naturalized Russian citizen who was a computer contractor who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013. He is currently under indictment for espionage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52i2lv33BkU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSu4rCizyUM
Dick Swaab
Dutch physician and neurobiologist. He is a professor of neurobiology at the University of Amsterdam and was until 2005 Director of the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOK8fw4tsO8
Nassim Nicholas
Taleb Lebanese-American mathematical statistician and essayist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgHQZH_49cI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr1EoiwDhPs
Giulio Tononi
Neuroscientist and psychiatrist who holds the David P. White Chair in Sleep Medicine, as well as a Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science at the University of Wisconsin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK72pPa_gSE
J. Wentzel van Huyssteen
Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1992―2014 (demised).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWOHPS7tdk4
Ursula von der Leyen
German politician, serving as the 13th president of the European Commission since 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwlGgISftVo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-yMoNVy2g
Maria Zakharova
Russian politician who serves as the director of the information and press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. She has been the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57eLgIYKMQM
Helen Zille
South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3nQHCI3fB0
Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg
American paediatrician and a philanthropist. She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIJmXhYZoy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8fN8HqoCMk
Additional commentary on each of the individuals above will be provided in due course. Please note that this list is not closed and will be supplemented by new additions from time to time.