The results may be skewed by the predominance of Americans polled. The individuals reponsible admit, moreover, "We considered incorporating questions drawn from non-analytic traditions, but it proved difficult to find questions that would be accessible enough to a predominantly analytic audience. So we decided to explicitly orient the survey toward analytic philosophy, which is the tradition within which our own expertise lies."

Still, it is what it is, and represents the thinking of those who responded.

The PhilPapers Surveys

It is interesting.

I am mildly surprised that, with every demographic, Hume is at the top of the "Non-living philosophers most identified with"; see:

Demographic statistics | PhilPapers Surveys

From there, one can select the various population options, and click on "refresh" on the page to load up each to examine.

Who is second, though, varies according to the group selected.

Shows good taste among professionals. It is probable that Hume is the greatest of all philosophers. The questions are interesting too. Not too specific; not too general.

Probable? How can you say such a thing? He absolutely is the greatest philosopher who ever lived!

I always except myself from that kind of thing. But he was pretty, pretty, good. (As Larry David might say).

If you point us in the direction of a book you wrote that is half as good as either of Hume's Enquiries, I will be very impressed.

I was hoping the demographics were more even, especially nationality and gender, but still a great poll and some of the stats were surprising too.

American, and there are still a lot more males than females in philosophy. And yes, more thought aesthetics objective than subjective.

Aesthetic value: objective or subjective?

Lean toward: objective 252 / 931 (27%)
Lean toward: subjective 181 / 931 (19.4%)
Accept: subjective 140 / 931 (15%)
Accept: objective 130 / 931 (13.9%)
Accept an intermediate view 61 / 931 (6.5%)
The question is too unclear to answer 42 / 931 (4.5%)
Agnostic/undecided 30 / 931 (3.2%)
Insufficiently familiar with the issue 29 / 931 (3.1%)
Accept another alternative 24 / 931 (2.5%)
Accept both 24 / 931 (2.5%)
Reject both 9 / 931 (0.9%)
Skip 4 / 931 (0.4%)
Other 3 / 931 (0.3%)
There is no fact of the matter 2 / 931 (0.2%)