Timeline of Western philosophers
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Timeline of Eastern | Western philosophers |
This is a list of
philosophers
from the Western tradition of philosophy.
Western philosophers
Ancient Greece
600–500 BC
- Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water.
- Pherecydes of Syros (c. 620 – c. 550 BC). Cosmologist.
- Milesian school. Famous for the concept of Apeiron, or "the boundless".
- Milesian school. Believed that all was made of air.
- Pythagoras of Samos (c. 580 – c. 500 BC). Of the Ionian School. Believed the deepest reality to be composed of numbers, and that souls are immortal.
- Eleaticschool.
- Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BC). Of the Ionians. Emphasized the mutability of the universe.
- Epicharmusof Kos (c. 530 – 450 BC). Comic playwright and moralist.
- Parmenides of Elea (c. 515 – 450 BC). Of the Eleatics. Reflected on the concept of Being.
- Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c. 500 – 428 BC). Of the Ionians. Pluralist.
400 BC
- Empedocles (492 – 432 BC). Eclectic cosmogonist. Pluralist.
- Zeno of Elea (c. 490 – 430 BC). Of the Eleatics. Known for his paradoxes.
- Gorgias. (c. 483 – 375 BC). Sophist. Early advocate of solipsism.
- Protagoras of Abdera (c. 481 – 420 BC). Sophist. Early advocate of relativism.
- Determinist.
- Socrates of Athens (c. 470 – 399 BC). Emphasized virtue ethics. In epistemology, understood dialectic to be central to the pursuit of truth.
- Prodicus of Ceos (c. 465 – c. 395 BC). Sophist.
- Critias of Athens (c. 460 – 413 BC). Atheist writer and politician.
- Hippias (Middle of the 5th century BC). Sophist.
- Atomist.
- Melissus of Samos. (c. 470 - 430 BC). Eleatic.
- Cratylus. Follower of Heraclitus.
- Antisthenes (c. 444 – 365 BC). Founder of Cynicism. Pupil of Socrates.
- Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 440 – 366 BC). A Cyrenaic. Advocate of ethical hedonism.
- Xenophon (c. 427 – 355 BC). Historian.
- Plato (c. 427 – 347 BC). Famed for view of the transcendental forms. Advocated polity governed by philosophers.
- Diogenes of Apollonia (c. 425 – c 350 BC). Cosmologist.
- Speusippus (c. 408 – 339 BC). Nephew of Plato.
- Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408 – 355 BC). Pupil of Plato.
- Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404 – 323 BC). Cynic.
Hellenistic era
300–200 BC
- Xenocrates (c. 396 – 314 BC). Disciple of Plato.
- Aristotle (c. 384 – 322 BC). A polymath whose works ranged across all philosophical fields.
- Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC). Peripatetic.
- Skeptic.
- hedonist. Founder of Epicureanism
- Materialist.
- Zeno of Citium (c. 333 – 264 BC). Founder of Stoicism.
- Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 – c. 230 BC). Astronomer.
- Euclid (fl. 300 BC). Mathematician, founder of geometry.
- Archimedes (c. 287 – c. 212 BC). Mathematician and inventor.
- Chrysippus of Soli (c. 280 – 207 BC). Major figure in Stoicism.
- Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC). Geographer and mathematician.
- Carneades (c. 214 – 129 BC). Academic skeptic. Understood probability as the purveyor of truth.
- Hipparchus of Nicaea(c. 190 – c. 120 BC). Astronomer and mathematician, founder of trigonometry.
Classical Rome
100 BC–100 AD
- Cicero (c. 106 BC – 43 BC) Skeptic. Political theorist.
- Epicurean.
- Quintilian (c. 35 AD – c. 100 AD). Rhetorician and teacher.
- Philo (c. 20 BC – 50 AD). Believed in the allegorical method of reading texts.
- Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – 65 AD). Stoic.
- Jesus of Nazareth (c. 1 – 30 or 33 AD) the founder of Christianity.
- Hero of Alexandria (c. 10 – c. 70). Engineer.
- Plutarch (c. 46 – 119).
- Epictetus (c. 55 – 135). Stoic. Emphasized ethics of self–determination.
100–400
- Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180). Stoic.
- Pyrrhonist.
- Neoplatonist. Had a holistic metaphysics.
- Porphyry (c. 232 – 304). Student of Plotinus.
- neoplatonist. Espoused theurgy.
- Original Sin. Church father.
- Proclus (c. 412 – 485). Neoplatonist.
- Boethius(c. 480–524).
- John Philoponus (c. 490–570).
Middle Ages
500–900
- Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500).
- John of Damascus (c. 680-750).
- Al-Kindi (c. 801 – 873). Major figure in Islamic philosophy. Influenced by Neoplatonism.
- Abbas ibn Firnas (809–887). Polymath.
- pantheist.
- Neoplatonist.
- Islamic philosopher. Held that God creates universe by rearranging pre–existing laws.
- Saadia Gaon (c. 882 – 942). Jewish Philosopher
- Al-Biruni (c. 973 – 1050). Islamic polymath.
- Islamic philosopher.
- Ibn Hazm (7 November 994 – 15 August 1064)
1000–1100
- Jewish philosopher.
- Christian philosopher. Produced ontological argumentfor the existence of God.
- Islamic philosopher. Agnostic. Mathematician. Philosophical poet, one of the 5 greatest Iranian Poets.
- Islamic philosopher. Mystic.
- Peter Abelard (c. 1079–1142). Scholastic philosopher. Dealt with the problem of universals.
- Peter Lombard (c. 1100–1160). Scholastic.
- Ibn Tufail(c. 1105 – 1185)
- Islamic philosopher.
- Jewish philosopher.
- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149 or 1150 – 1209)
- Islamic philosopher.
- Muslim philosopher, mystic, poet, and scholar. Founder of Akbarism, one of the major current of later Islamic philosophy.
- Fibonacci (c. 1170–c. 1250), mathematician.
- Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175–1253).
- Ascetic.
- Empiricist.
1200–1300
- Empiricist, mathematician.
- Thomas Aquinas (c. 1221–1274). Aristotelian.
- Franciscan.
- Ramon Llull (c. 1232–1315) Spanish philosopher
- Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328). mystic.
- Ibn Taymiyya (c. 1263-1328) Islamic scholar, juristand philosopher
- Dante Alighieri (c. 1265 – 1321).
- Original Sin.
- Marsilius of Padua (c. 1270–1342). Understood chief function of state as mediator.
- Ockham's razor.
- Nominalist.
- John Wycliffe (c. 1320–1384).
- Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–5 – 1382). Made contributions to economics, science, mathematics, theology and philosophy.
- Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406).
- Jewish philosopher.
- neoplatonicphilosophy.
1400
- Christian philosopher.
- Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457). Humanist, critic of scholastic logic.
- Neoplatonist, head of Florentine Academy and major Renaissance Humanist figure. First translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin.
- Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494). Renaissance humanist.
- .
- Political realism.
- Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
- Sir Thomas More (1478–1535). Humanist, created term "utopia".
- theologian.
Early modern period
1500
- Western Christiantheologian.
- skeptic.
- Giordano Bruno (1548–1600). Advocate of heliocentrism.
- Francisco Suarez(1548–1617). Politically proto–liberal.
- Empiricist.
- Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). Heliocentrist.
- Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
- Islamic philosopher.
- Hugo Grotius (1583–1645). Natural law theorist.
- Marin Mersenne (1588–1648). Cartesian.
- Robert Filmer (1588–1653). Absolutist, monarchist, patrimonialist. Divine right of kings.
- Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). Advocate of extensive government power, social contract theorist, materialist.
- Empiricist.
- mind-body dualism, rationalism.
1600
- Baltasar Gracián (1601–1658). Spanish Catholic philosopher
- François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680).
- Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). Physicist, scientist. Noted for Pascal's wager.
- feminist.
- Robert Boyle (1627–1691).
- Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627 – 1704).
- Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677). Rationalism.
- Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694). Social contract theorist.
- Empiricist. Political philosopher.
- Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715). Cartesian.
- Isaac Newton (1643–1727).
- John Flamsteed (1646 – 1719). Astronomer.
- Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716). Co-inventor of calculus.
- Pyrrhonist.
- Jean Meslier (1664–1729). Atheist Priest.
- Giambattista Vico (1668–1744).
- John Toland (1670–1722).
- Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1671–1713).
- Dimitrie Cantemir (1674-1723)
- rationalist.
- empiricist.
- Skeptic, humanist.
- utilitarian.
- Voltaire (1694–1778). Advocate for freedoms of religion and expression.
1700
- Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). American philosophical theologian.
- David Hartley (1705–1757).
- determinist.
- Thomas Reid (1710–1796). Member of Scottish Enlightenment, founder of Scottish Common Sense philosophy.
- skeptic.
- Jean–Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). Social contractpolitical philosopher.
- Denis Diderot (1713–1784).
- Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762).
- Utilitarian.
- Etienne de Condillac(1715–1780).
- Jean d'Alembert(1717–1783).
- atheist.
- Adam Smith (1723–1790). Economic theorist, member of Scottish Enlightenment.
- Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Major contributions in nearly every field of philosophy, especially metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics.
- Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786). Member of the Jewish Enlightenment.
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781).
- Edmund Burke (1729–1797). Conservative political philosopher.
- Johann Georg Hamann (1730–1788).
- Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794). Italian criminologist, jurist, and philosopher from the Age of Enlightenment.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Liberal political philosopher.
- Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819).
- Johann Gottfried von Herder(1744–1803).
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). Early evolutionary theorist.
- Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Utilitarian, hedonist.
- Determinist.
- Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) Conservative
- Louis de Bonald (1754 – 1840).
- William Godwin (1756–1836). Anarchist, utilitarian.
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797). Feminist.
- Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805).
- Socialist.
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814).
- Madame de Staël(1766–1817).
- Hermeneutician.
- Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843). Poet and philosopher.
- German idealist.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834).
- Utilitarian.
- German idealist.
- Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848).
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860). Pessimism, Critic, Absurdist.
- Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881).
- Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883). Egalitarian, abolitionist.
- positivist.
Modern philosophers
1800–1850
- egalitarian, humanist.
- Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872).
- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859).
- Anarchist.
- Logician.
- Utilitarian.
- Anarchist.
- Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858). Egalitarian, utilitarian.
- Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
- Egalitarian.
- Existentialist.
- Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876). Revolutionary anarchist.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902). Egalitarian.
- pacifist, abolitionist.
- Socialist, formulated historical materialism.
- Friedrich Engels (1820–1895). Egalitarian, dialectical materialist.
- Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). Nativism, libertarianism, social Darwinism.
- Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906). Feminist.
- Ernest Renan (1823 – 1892).
- Hippolyte Taine (1828 – 1893).
- Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911).
- T.H. Green(1836–1882). British idealist.
- Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900). Rationalism, utilitarianism.
- Ernst Mach (1838–1916). Philosopher of science, influence on logical positivism.
- Franz Brentano (1838–1917). Phenomenologist.
- Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914). Pragmatist.
- Philipp Mainländer (1841 — 1876). Pessimist.
- William James (1842–1910). Pragmatism, Radical empiricism.
- Hermann Cohen (1842-1918). Neo-Kantianism, Jewish philosophy.
- Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921). Anarchist communism.
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). Naturalistic philosopher, influence on Existentialism.
- W. K. Clifford (1845–1879). Evidentialist.
- F. H. Bradley (1846–1924). Idealist.
- Social philosopher.
- Gottlob Frege (1848–1925). Influential analytic philosopher.
1850–1900
- Henri Poincaré (1854–1912).
- Josiah Royce (1855–1916). Idealist.
- Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). Neurologist, founded psychoanalysis, posited structural model of mind.
- Linguist, Semiotics, Structuralism.
- Social philosopher.
- Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932).
- Edmund Husserl (1859–1938). Founder of phenomenology.
- Henri Bergson (1859–1941). Vitalism.
- John Dewey (1859–1952). Pragmatism.
- Jane Addams (1860–1935). Pragmatist.
- Pierre Duhem (1861–1916).
- Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925).Anthroposophy
- Philosophy of Physics, Panpsychism.
- symbolic interactionist.
- aphorisms.
- Max Weber (1864–1920). Social philosopher.
- Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936).
- Benedetto Croce (1866–1952).
- Anarchist.
- Marxistpolitical philosopher.
- nontheist, influential.
- G. E. Moore (1873–1958). Common sense theorist, ethical non–naturalist.
- Existentialist.
- Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945). Neo-Kantianism.
- Max Scheler (1874–1928). German phenomenologist.
- Carl Jung (1875–1961). Psychoanalyst, metaphysicst.
- fascistphilosopher.
- existentialist.
- Logician.
- Oswald Spengler (1880 – 1936).
- Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973).
- evolutionist.
- Legal positivist.
- Moritz Schlick (1882–1936). Founder of Vienna Circle, logical positivism.
- Otto Neurath (1882–1945). Member of Vienna Circle.
- Nicolai Hartmann (1882–1950).
- Jacques Maritain (1882–1973). Human rights theorist.
- José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955). Philosopher of History.
- Existentialist.
- Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962).
- Marxistphilosopher.
- Karl Barth (1886–1968).
- René Guénon (1886 – 1951).
- Carl Schmitt (1888 – 1985).
- Analytic philosopher, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, influential.
- existentialist.
- Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). Phenomenologist.
- Marxistphilosopher.
- Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
- Walter Benjamin (1892–1940). Marxist. Philosophy of language.
- Max Horkheimer (1895-1973). Frankfurt School.
- Ernst Jünger (1895 – 1998).
- Susanne Langer (1895–1985).
- Georges Bataille (1897–1962).
- Julius Evola (1898 – 1974).
- Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979). Frankfurt School.
- C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963).
- Friedrich Hayek (1899 – 1992).
- Leo Strauss (1899–1973). Political Philosopher.
1900–1950
- Gilbert Ryle (1900–1976).
- Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002). Hermeneutics.
- Jacques Lacan (1901–1981). Structuralism.
- Marxistphilosopher
- Alfred Tarski (1901–1983). Created T–Convention in semantics.
- Michael Oakeshott (1901 – 1990).
- Karl Popper (1902–1994). Falsificationist.
- Mortimer Adler(1902–2001).
- Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)
- Frank P. Ramsey (1903–1930). Proposed redundancy theory of truth.
- Theodor Adorno (1903–1969). Frankfurt School.
- Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) comparative mythology and comparative religion
- Raymond Aron (1905 – 1983).
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980). Humanism, existentialism.
- Individualist.
- Kurt Gödel (1906–1978). Vienna Circle.
- Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995).
- Political Philosophy.
- H.L.A. Hart (1907–1992). Legal positivism.
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961). Influential French phenomenologist.
- Existentialist, feminist.
- Willard van Orman Quine(1908–2000).
- Simone Weil (1909–1943).
- A.J. Ayer(1910–1989). Logical positivist, emotivist.
- J.L. Austin(1911–1960).
- Media theory.
- Alan Turing (1912–1954). Functionalist in philosophy of mind.
- Wilfrid Sellars (1912–1989). Influential American philosopher
- Albert Camus (1913–1960). Absurdist.
- Paul Ricœur (1913–2005). French philosopher and theologian.
- Roland Barthes (1915–1980). French semiotician and literary theorist.
- Donald Davidson (1917–2003). Coherentist philosophy of mind.
- Louis Althusser (1918–1990). Structural Marxist.
- Russell Kirk (1918 – 1994).
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918 – 2008).
- M. Bunge (1919–2020).
- P. F. Strawson (1919–2006). Ordinary language philosophy.
- John Rawls (1921–2002). Liberal.
- Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996). Author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
- liquid modernity.
- Frantz Fanon (1925–1961). Postcolonialism
- Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995). Post-structuralism
- Michel Foucault (1926–1984). Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism, and the concept of biopolitics.
- Neopragmatism.
- Noam Chomsky (born 1928). Linguist.
- Robert M. Pirsig (1928–2017). Introduced the Methaphysics of Quality. MOQ incorporates facets of East Asian philosophy, pragmatism and the work of F. S. C. Northrop.
- Bernard Williams (1929–2003). Moral philosopher.
- Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007). Postmodernism, Post-structuralism.
- Jürgen Habermas (born 1929). Discourse ethics.
- Jaakko Hintikka (1929–2015).
- Alasdair MacIntyre (born 1929). Aristotelian.
- Hubert Lederer Dreyfus (1929-2017)
- Allan Bloom (1930–1992). Political Philosopher.
- Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002). French psychoanalytic sociologist and philosopher.
- Jacques Derrida (1930–2004). Deconstruction.
- Thomas Sowell (born 1930). Political Philosopher, capitalist.
- Guy Debord (1931–1994). French Marxist philosopher.
- Richard Rorty (1931–2007). Pragmatism, Postanalytic philosophy.
- Philosophy of Social Science, and Intellectual History
- Direct realism.
- Philosophy of Religion.
- Jerry Fodor (1935–2017).
- Thomas Nagel (born 1937). Qualia theory.
- Alain Badiou (born 1937).
- Robert Nozick (1938–2002). Libertarian.
- Tom Regan (1938–2017). Animal rights philosopher.
- Saul Kripke (1940-2022). Modal semantics.
- Jean-Luc Nancy (1940-2021) French philosopher.
- David K. Lewis (1941–2001). Modal realism.
- Derek Parfit (1942–2017).
- Giorgio Agamben (born 1942). state of exception, form–of–life, and homo sacer.
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 1942). Postcolonialism, Feminism, Literary theory.
- Roger Scruton (1944-2020). Traditionalist conservatism.
- Peter Singer (born 1946) Moral philosopher on animal liberation, effective altruism.
- Camille Paglia (born 1947).
- Martha Nussbaum (born 1947). Political philosopher.
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born 1949).
- .
- Ken Wilber (born 1949). Integral Theory.
1950–2000
- Cornel West (born 1953).
- feminist, queer theory.
- Alexander Wendt (born 1958). Social constructivism.
- Michel Onfray (born 1959).
- David Benatar (born 1966). Antinatalist.
- Lacanian Psychoanalysis.
- Alain de Botton (born 1969).
- Nick Bostrom (born 1973).
See also
- Contemporary philosophy
- Timeline of German Idealism
- List of years in philosophy
- Category:21st-century philosophers
References
- Kemerling, Garth (2002). "Timeline of Western Philosophers".
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(help) http://www.philosophypages.com - LaFave, Sandra (2006). "Chronological List of Western Philosophers".
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(help) http://lafavephilosophy.x10host.com/CRONLIST.htm - Russell, Bertrand (1959). Wisdom of the West. London: Rathbone Books, Ltd.
External links
- Jewish Intellectual Timeline, a parallel history of Jewish and non-Jewish intellectual ideas