12. Greatest philosophers
Classical | Sophism, Cynicism, Epicureanism |
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1 | 469 BC | 399 BC | Socrates | The founding father of philosophy. Known mostly only through Plato, he is renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics. He also made contributions to the field of epistemology (nature of knowlesge) and logic. He was convicted of heresy and corruption to local youth because of his discussions on self-analysis and sentenced to death by drinking Hemlock | |
2 | 428 BC | 347 BC | Plato | Plato was originally a student of Socrates, and was as much influenced by his thinking as by what he saw as his teacher’s unjust death. He is one of the most important Greek philosophers. He founded the Academy in Athens, an institution devoted to research and instruction in philosophy and the sciences. His works on philosophy, politics and mathematics were very influencial and laid the foundations for Euclid’s systematic approach to mathematics. | |
3 | 384 BC | 322 BC | Aristotle | a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato’s teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics. | |
4 | 205 | 270 | Plotinus | Is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism | |
5 | 354 | 430 | St. Augustine | Augustine is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. Augustine was heavily influenced by the Neoplatonism of Plontius. He framed the concepts of sin and just war. Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material City of Man. Augustine’s City of God was closely identified with the church, and was the community which worshipped God. | |
Medieval | Scholasticism | ||||
6 | 1225 | 1274 | Aquinas | Thomas | Was an Italian priest of the Roman Catholic Church. He was immensely influential in the tradition of scholasticism |
7 | 1596 | 1650 | Descartes | Rene | Dubbed the “father of modern philosophy”. a major figure in 17th century continental rationalism, later advocated by Spinoza and Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke and Hume. |
8 | 1632 | 1677 | Spinoza | Baruch de | Rationalism |
9 | 1588 | 1679 | Hobbes | Thomas | Empiricist |
1632 | 1704 | Locke | John | Considered the first of the British empiricists, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy. Locke’s theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau and Kant. | |
Modern | Epistemology | ||||
10 | 1646 | 1716 | von Leibniz | Gottfried | Rationalism |
11 | 1711 | 1776 | Hume | David | Influenced by Locke on empiricism. He was a source of inspiration for those in political philosophy and economics as an early and subtle thinker in the liberal tradition. |
12 | 1724 | 1804 | Kant | Immanuel | Last influential philosopher during the “age of enlightenment”. Kant suggested that metaphysics can be reformed through epistemology. He suggested that by understanding the sources and limits of human knowledge we can ask fruitful metaphysical questions like the principle of causality. |
13 | 1770 | 1831 | Hegel | Georg | Idealim |
14 | 1813 | 1855 | Kierkegaard | Soren | Beginning of existentialism |
15 | 1798 | 1857 | Comte | Auguste | Logical positivism |
16 | 1788 | 1860 | Schopenhauer | Arthur | Renunciation of desire |
17 | 1806 | 1873 | Mill | J. Stuart | Utilitarianism, empiricism |
18 | 1818 | 1883 | Marx | Karl | Marx’ ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. He argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will inevitably produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, he believed socialism will, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism. |
19 | 1825 | 1895 | Huxley | Thomas | |
20 | 1844 | 1900 | Nietzsche | Friedrich | |
21 | 1844 | 1910 | Rousseau | J.J. | Romanticism – revolt against rationalism |
22 | 1842 | 1910 | James | William | Pragmatism, the religious experience |
23 | 1839 | 1914 | Peirce | Charles | Originated concept of pragmatism |
24 | 1853 | 1952 | Santayana | George | Animal faith |
25 | 1883 | 1969 | Jaspers | Karl | Existentialism |
26 | 1872 | 1970 | Russell | Bertrand | Ethical relativism |
27 | 1889 | 1976 | Heidegger | Martin | Existentialism |
28 | 1905 | 1980 | Sartre | John Paul | Existentialism |