| THALES (624-550 BC) Is born in Miletus, Greece. He is
interested in astronomy and politics, as well as philosophy. He became known
as the first Western philosopher. |
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| PYTHAGORAS (C.580-500 BC) Greek philosopher, explores the
importance of numbers. He discovers the mathematical relationship between
sound pitch and the length of a string or pipe. |
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| SOCRATES (407-399 BC) Greek philosopher, and Plato's
teacher, uses a question and answer method of enquiry. His main concern is
morality (right and wrong). He is accused by the state of corrupting young
people and is sentenced to death by drinking hemlock, a poison. |
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| PLATO (C. 428 - 347 BC) of Athens, Greece, founds the Academy (a
university) in Athens and teaches Aristotle there. He outlines his ideal
city-state in 'The Republic'. |
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| ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC) is the last and most influential of the
Greek philosophers. He stresses the importance of logic, or reasoning, in
Philosophy. He tutored Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). |
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| ST AUGUSTINE (AD 354-430) North African philosopher, uses Plato's
philosophy to express Christian ideas |
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| ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225
- 74) Italian friar, aims to make
Christian teaching consistent with Aristotle's philosophy. |
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| THOMAS HOBBES (1588 - 1679), English political philosopher, says
that giving all power to the state is the only way to avoid chaos and
endless war. He writes the 'Leviathan' in 1651. |
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| RENE DESCARTES (1596 - 1650), French dualist, rationalist
philosopher, and mathematician, is considered the first modern philosopher.
He bases all knowledge on one truth: that we cannot doubt the existence of
our own thoughts. |
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| JOHN LOCKE (1632 - 1704), English philosopher and political
writer, founds classical British empiricism. His political writings form the
foundations of modern democracy. He wrote 'Two Treatises of Government' in
1690. |
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| GEORGE BERKELEY (1685 - 1753), Irish bishop and idealist
philosopher, believes that objects, such as tables and chairs, are
collections of ideas, and exist only if a person perceives (is aware of)
them. |
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| DAVID HUME (1711 - 76), Scottish empiricist and sceptic, states
that all knowledge is taken from ideas and experience, but denies that this
knowledge can ever be proved. |
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| JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712 - 78), French political philosopher,
is against the limitations of civilized society and advises a return to
nature. |
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| IMMANUEL KANT (1724 - 1804), German thinker, says that we gain
knowledge through both experience and understanding. |
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| JEREMY BENTHAM (1748 - 1832), English utilitarian, judges an
action to be right by the extent to which it promotes happiness or minimizes
pain. |
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| G W F HEGEL (1770 - 1831), German idealist, says that the history
of events and thoughts is a process of conflict, which will lead to an
inevitable conclusion. |
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| ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788 - 1860), German idealist, saw art as
the only escape from a world without reason. |
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| JOHN STUART MILL (1806 - 73), English utilitarian, emphasizes
that some pleasures are worthier than others. He writes 'Our Liberty' in
1859. |
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| SOREN KIERKEGAARD (1813 - 55), Danish founder of existentialism
and religious writer, claims that the only real thing is individual
existence. |
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| KARL MARX (1818 - 83), Germany revolutionary thinker, founds
Communism, adapting ideas from Hegel's philosophy. He writes 'Das Kapital'
in 1867. |
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| WILLIAM JAMES (1942 - 1910), American psychologist and
pragmatist, sees the truthfulness of any idea in terms of the usefulness of
its results. |
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| FRIEDRICH WILHELM NIETZSCHE (1844 - 1900), German philosopher,
argues that people are driven in life by the 'will to power', and that
society will evolve into a race of 'supermen'. He rejects Christianity, and
influences the Nazi party. |
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| EDMUND HUSSERL (1859 - 1938), German philosopher, develops the
basic ideas of phenomenology (descriptions of human experience). |
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| BERTRAND RUSSELL (1872 - 1970), English thinker and political
activist, tries to provide firm foundations in philosophy for mathematics.
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| MARTIN HEIDEGGER (1889 - 1976), German existentialist, writes
'Being and Time' in 1927. |
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| LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889 - 1951), Austrian analytic philosopher,
explores the relationship between language and the world. He argues that
everything can be thought can also be said. |
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| JEAN-PAUL SARTRE (1905 -
1980), French existentialist, says there
is no fixed human nature or destiny, and that people are free to choose
their actions without following society's rules. |
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| SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR (1908 -
1986), French existentialist and founder
of modern feminist philosophy. |
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| WILLARD VAN ORMAN QUINE (1908
- 2000), American pragmatist, points
out inconsistencies in early analytic philosophy. |
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| MICHEL FOUCAULT (1926 -
1984), French philosopher, looks at ways in
which the individual is controlled by society's rules. |
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| JACQUES DERRIDA (1930 -
2004), French founder of deconstructionism,
which rejects the idea of any fixed truths in language and philosophy. |
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