1. Sartre.
2. Russell.
3. Aquinas.
4. Socrates.
5. Nussbaum.
6. Wittgenstein.

Now I suppose I have to decide how I'm going to respond... Hmm.

Carl, I think for now, I'd better say simply: you did not get all six correct. That's a splendidly ambiguous response, isn't it :)? I might loosen up my feedback as I see how this goes.

1. is Hegel, the sloppy hair and sideburns are the clue. Did he have blue eyes? All the portraits I can think of have been in black and white.
2. generic dead white philosopher (or Republican house member). This is going to be the hardest one to guess correctly. Maybe Rorty? Kind of squarish cheeks.
3. Aquinas (he makes a good space invader btw)

I like Carl's guesses for 4-6. I'll guess them too.

4. Socrates
5. Nussbaum
6. Wittgenstein

I think this is a great idea and I can't wait to see more of these little guys. Now you just need to take them and make an rpg!

Here are my guesses:

1. Hegel
2. Russell
3. Aquinas
4. Plato
5. Nussbaum
6. Wittgenstein

Michael: Indeed, the FF-style philosopher RPG might be just the thing!

I'll give both you and Carl a little more of a clue this morning: both of you have at least one correct, and, that ain't Martha Nussbaum.

I'd say:

1. Hegel.
2. Hume.
3. Aquinas.
4. Plato.
5. Nussbaum.
6. Wittgenstein.

Quite uncertain on number 2: I said Hume because looks like wearing a wig and quite fatty. My favourite portrait: number 1.

Fabio, #2 is a tough one. It's not Hume though. I wouldn't say he's fat so much as wide-headed.

Also, see above, #5 isn't Nussbaum. Interesting that everyone guessed her.

Thomas, sorry I missed your comment before. A few more hints:

First, there's a portrait of Hegel by Schlesinger in which his eyes are blue.

Second, I can confirm that #2 is dead, but it's not Rorty. That said, I am particularly happy with my rendition of Rorty; I may share that later. He's very distinctive despite being yet another white guy.

Third, everyone has both #4 and #5 wrong.

''The question is, who would publish such a thing?''

Zero? Either way I'd buy it for sure.

Huh, I didn't even think of Zero for some reason. Maybe because all their books so far are prose argument with black text on white pages. But hell, maybe they would do it.

Right, here we go,

1. Hegel
2. Schelling (the early years)
3. Aquinas
4. I'm plumping for Aristotle here
5. is by far the hardest and I'm totally unsure, but I'm thinking outside the box and going with Naomi Klein? (probably far too outside the box)
6. Wittgenstein

Robert, alas, you're no closer than the others. It does seem that all of you have settled on Hegel, Aquinas, and Wittgenstein though. That's all I'm going to say about that.

One more hint on numbers 2, 4, and 5: you're in the wrong era. Everyone is.

Klein's too far outside the box, indeed. It does point to the fact that I had to make a number of choices about the philosophical canon. Who counts as a philosopher? is a tough question to answer.

While not a book, my initial thought was that this might be well-suited to DS Homebrew.

One more go before I sleep,

I'm ignoring your double bluff Bogost, 8-p and sticking with #1 #3 and #6.

#1 Hegel
#2 I'm going for Sartre this time
#3 Aquinas
#4 To hell with it, I'm going with Dennett (poet)
#5 Still unsure this ones even female, so lets try Sloterdijk
#6 Wittgenstein

I'll lay off this for now, but this is a cunning challenge, one worthy of Monkey Island, but not irrtiatingly impossible, like Battletoads.

Here's a clue about #4: i could just as easily have made a younger, browner-haired/bearded version of that one. Indeed, that might have been more appropriate, in a certain way.

All of the female philosophers I can think of have dark hair, except Nussbaum.

Does St. Nick count as a philosopher for #4? He went to the Council of Nicaea. Theology is like philosophy, sort of.

What about Hemmingway? He was my first thought, actually.

It can't be Aristotle. His hair is brown.

Carl, on the would-be Nussbaum, I'd encourage you to look back before the 20th c.

#4 isn't Aristotle. In fact, he's not of the same era, even remotely.

2nd try

1. Hegel
2. It has to be 19th or 20th century because of the tie. I'm not sure if he has a wide enough head to fit the clue, but he kind of looks like his hair is brushed back so I'll say Lacan. (Or maybe it is not a tie, maybe it is a tongue. In that case I'll stick with Lacan.)
3. Aquinas
4. Freud
5. Blond ponytails: Hildegard?
6. Wittgenstein

Thomas, you're getting closer on all fronts.

On #2, your reasoning is sound, but he doesn't really look like Lacan right? I mean, if you look at photos. He does look French to me though.

On #4, Freud has a Van Dyke, not a full beard, and not nearly this much hair on his head.

On #5, you're moving in the right direction, but I doubt Hildegard would ever have let her hair down.

Attempt #2

1. Hegel
2. Derrida
3. Aquinas
4. Kripke
5. Hypatia of Alexandria
6. Wittgenstein

Michael! You're So Close!

That is all.

4 could be Zizek. Going by the bleary eyes, unkempt hair and beard, and ugly gray t-shirt (which, if you could see below the shoulders, would be soaked in sweat). But his hair isn't quite that uniformly gray yet, so I'm probably wrong.

Simon, check my Twitter history for Zizek

Hypatia is Egyptian: dark hair.

Hypatia wasn't Egyptian, she was Greek, living in Roman Egypt. Naturally, nobody really knows what Hypatia looked like, but many take their cues from paintings by Raphael and Charles William Mitchell...

Attempt #3 (Is there a limit to how many guesses we get? Am I cheating right now?)

1. Hegel
2. Levinas
3. Aquinas
4. Kripke
5. Hypatia of Alexandria
6. Wittgenstein

Michael's got it! Bravo!

Now you get to choose the source for your 7-pixel reward.

Now the question is, should I post six more and start over...

of course!

Hurray for me! Ian, I'll find a decent picture of myself and email it to you. I'm so excited to have my first official portrait!

For the journal Hypatia, they got an Egyptian to be their cover model. :-/

Of course, the real question is, “Who’s an Egyptian?” The Copts? The Arabs? Anyone who ever lived in Egypt?

BEINGAS
ABEARER
OFSENSE
ENFOLDS
ITSTIME
TANGLED
BLOSSOM

Or maybe,

BEINGAS
ALODGER
OFSENSE
ENFOLDS
ITSTIME
TANGLED
DWELLER

It's rather an appealing mode of summary, isn't it Eric?

Yes, it really was a nice prism for rethinking what little I pretend to understand of Heidegger. A kind of pixelated philosophical mnemonics.