Timeline of Western philosophers
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Timeline of eastern | western philosophers |
A wide-ranging list of philosophers from the Western traditions of philosophy. Included are not only philosophers (Socrates, Plato), but also those who have had a marked importance upon the philosophy of the day.
The list stops at the year 1950, after which philosophers fall into the category of Contemporary philosophy.
Contents |
[edit] Western & Middle Eastern Philosophers
[edit] Classical Philosophers
[edit] 600-500 BCE
- Thales of Miletus (ca. 624-546 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water.
- Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610-546 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Famous for the concept of Apeiron, or "the boundless".
- Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585-525 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of air.
- Pythagoras of Samos (c. approx. 580-500 BCE). Of the Ionic school. Understood the deepest reality to be composed of numbers; believed that souls are immortal.
- Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570-480 BCE). Sometimes associated with the Eleatic school. Politically anti-militant, and epistemically skeptical.
[edit] 500-400 BCE
- Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. approx. 535-475 BCE). Of the Ionians. Emphasized the mutability of the world, which he understood to be analogous to fire.
- Parmenides of Elea (c. 515-450 BCE). Of the Eleatics.
- Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c. 500-428 BCE). Of the Ionians. Atomist.
- Zeno (c. approx. 490-430 BCE). Of the Eleatics. Famous for Zeno's paradoxes.
- Empedocles of Acragas (c. 490-430 BCE). Believed in metaphysical doctrine of four elements. Advocate of ethical vegetarianism.
- Protagoras of Abdera (c. 481-420 BCE). Sophist. Early advocate of relativism.
- Hippias (middle of the 5th century BCE). Sophist.
- Gorgias. (c. 483-375 BCE). Sophist.
- Socrates of Athens (ca. 470-399 BCE). Emphasized virtue ethics. In epistemology, understood dialectic to be central to the pursuit of truth.
- Leucippus of Miletus (First half of 5th century BCE). Atomist, Determinist.
- Democritus of Abdera (c. 450-370 BCE). Atomist.
- Archelaus. A pupil of Anaxagoras.
- Melissus of Samos. Eleatic.
- Cratylus.
- Ion of Chios.
- Echecrates.
- Timaeus of Locri.
[edit] 400-300 BCE
- Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435-366 BCE). A Cyrenaic. Advocate of ethical hedonism.
- Antisthenes (c. 444-365 BCE). Founder of Cynicism. Maintained that the wise cannot be fooled. Pupil of Socrates.
- Xenophon (c. 427-355 BCE). Philosopher of history.
- Plato (c. 427-347 BCE). Famed for view of the transcendental forms. Advocated polity governed by philosophers.
- Diogenes of Sinope (c. approx. 399-323 BCE). Cynic.
- Euclid (c. 325-265 BCE). Founder of Euclidean geometry.
- Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE). A polymath whose works ranged across all philosophical fields.
- Strato of Lampsacus (ca. 340 BC–ca. 268 BC). Atheist, Materialist.
- Xenocrates (c. 396-314 BCE). Disciple of Plato.
- Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360-270 BCE). Skeptic.
[edit] Hellenistic Philosophers
[edit] 300-200 BCE
- Epicurus (c. 341-270 BCE). Materialist Atomist, hedonist.
- Zeno of Citium (c. 333-264 BCE). Founder of Stoicism. Anarchist. Held that the acceptance of objectivity allows the overcoming of passions.
- Timon (c. 320-230 BCE). Pyrrhonist, skeptic.
- Chrysippus of Soli (c. 280-207 BCE). Major figure in Stoicism.
[edit] 200-100 BCE
- Carneades (c. 214-129 BCE). Academic skeptic. Understood probability as the purveyor of truth.
[edit] 100-0 BCE
[edit] Roman Era Philosophers
[edit] 0-100 CE
- Cicero (c.106 BCE-43 BCE)
- Philo (c. 20 BCE-40 CE). Believed in the allegorical method of reading texts.
- Seneca the Younger (ca. 4 BCE-65 CE). Stoic.
[edit] 100-200 CE
- Epictetus (c.55-135). Stoic. Emphasized ethics of self-determination.
- Marcus Aurelius (121-180). Stoic.
[edit] 200-400 CE
- Sextus Empiricus (fl. during the 2nd and possibly the 3rd centuries CE). Skeptic, Pyrrhonist.
- Plotinus (ca. 205-270). Neoplatonist. Had a holistic metaphysics.
- Porphyry (c.232-304). Student of Plotinus.
- Iamblichus of Syria (ca. 245-325). Late neoplatonist. Espoused theurgy.
- Augustine of Hippo (c. 354-430). Original Sin. Church father.
- Proclus (c. 412-485). Neoplatonist.
[edit] Western Medieval Era Philosophers
[edit] 500-800 CE
- Boethius (c. 480–524).
- John Philoponus (c. 490–570).
[edit] 800-900 CE
- Al-Kindi (c. 801-873). Major figure in Islamic philosophy. Influenced by Neoplatonism.
- John the Scot (ca. 815-877). Pelagian, neoplatonist, pantheist.
[edit] 900-1000 CE
- al-Faràbi (c. 870-950). Major Islamic philosopher. Neoplatonist.
- Saadia Gaon (c. 882-942).
- al-Razi (c. 865-925). Rationalist. Major Islamic philosopher. Held that God creates universe by rearranging pre-existing laws.
[edit] 1000-1100 CE
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (c. 980-1037). Major Islamic philosopher.
- Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron) (c. 1021-1058). Jewish philosopher.
- Anselm (c. ~1034–1109). Christian philosopher. Produced ontological argument for the existence of God.
- al-Ghazali (c. 1058-1111). Islamic philosopher. Mystic.
[edit] 1100-1200 CE
- Peter Abelard (c. 1079-1142). Scholastic philosopher. Dealt with problem of universals.
- Abraham ibn Daud (ca. 1110-1180). Jewish philosophy.
- Peter Lombard (c. 1100-1160). Scholastic.
- Averroes (Ibn Rushd, "The Commentator") (c. 1126-December 10, 1198). Islamic philosopher.
- Maimonides (c. 1135-1204). Jewish philosophy.
- St Francis of Assisi (c. 1182-1226). Ascetic.
[edit] 1200-1300 CE
- Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253).
- Albert the Great (c. 1193-1280). Early Empiricist.
- Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1294). Empiricist, mathematician.
- Thomas Aquinas (c. 1221-1274). Christian philosopher.
- Bonaventure (c. 1225-1274). Franciscan.
- Siger (c. 1240-1280s). Averroist.
- Boetius of Dacia. Averroist, Aristotelian.
[edit] 1300-1400 CE
- Duns Scotus (c. 1266-1308). Franciscan, Scholastic.
- Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1328). Pantheist, mystic.
- John Wycliffe (c.1320-1384).
- Marsilius of Padua (c. 1270-1342). Understood chief function of state as mediator.
- William of Ockham (c. 1288-1348). Franciscan. Scholastic. Nominalist, creator of Ockham's razor.
- Gersonides (c. 1288-1344). Jewish philosopher.
- Jean Buridan (c. 1300-1358). Nominalist.
- Hasdai Crescas (c. 1340-~1411). Jewish philosopher.
[edit] 1400-1500 CE
- Nicholas of Cusa (c. 1401-1464). Christian philosopher.
- Lorenzo Valla (c. 1406-August 1, 1457). Humanist, critic of scholastic logic.
- Pico della Mirandola (c. 1463-1494). Renaissance humanist.
[edit] Early Modern Philosophers
[edit] 1500-1550 CE
- Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466-1536). Humanist, advocate of free will.
- Niccolò Machiavelli (c. 1469-1527). Political realism.
- Copernicus (c. 1473-1543).
- Sir Thomas More (c. 1478-1535). Humanist, created term "utopia".
- Petrus Ramus (c. 1515-1572).
- Martin Luther (c. 1483-1546). Major Western Christian theologian.
[edit] 1550-1600 CE
- Teresa of Avila (c. 1515-1582). Spanish mystic.
- Michel de Montaigne (c. 1533-1592). Humanist, skeptic.
- Giordano Bruno (c. 1548-1600). Advocate of heliocentrism.
- Francisco Suarez (c. 1548-1617). Politically proto-liberal.
- John Calvin (c. 1509-1564). Major Western Christian theologian.
- Pierre Charron (c. 1541-1603).
[edit] 1600-1650 CE
- Marin Mersenne (c. 1588-1648). Cartesian.
- Francis Bacon (c. 1561-1626). Empiricist.
- Hugo Grotius (c. 1583-1645). Natural law theorist.
- Galileo Galilei (c. 1564-1642). Heliocentrist.
- Herbert of Cherbury. Nativist.
- Pierre Gassendi (c. 1592-1655). Mechanicism. Empiricist.
- Elizabeth of Bohemia (c. 1618-1680). Non-dualist.
- Queen Kristina (c. 1626-1689).
- René Descartes (c. 1596-1650). Heliocentrism, dualism, rationalism.
- Pierre de Fermat (c. 1601-1665). Probability theorist.
- Robert Filmer (c. 1588-1653).
[edit] 1650-1700 CE
- Thomas Hobbes (c. 1588-1679). Political realist.
- Joseph Glanvill (c. 1636-1680).
- Arnold Geulincx (c. 1624-1669). Important occasionalist theorist.
- Blaise Pascal (c. 1623-1662). Physicist, scientist. Noted for Pascal's wager.
- Henry More (c. 1614-1687).
- Geraud Cordemoy. Dualist.
- Pierre Nicole (c. 1625-1695).
- Ralph Cudworth (c. 1617-1688). Cambridge Platonist.
- Margaret Cavendish (c. 1623-1673). Materialist, feminist.
- Antoine Arnauld (c. 1612-1694).
- Richard Cumberland (c. 1631-1718). Early proponent of utilitarianism.
- Jacques Rohault.(c.1617-1672) [Cartesian]
- Simon Foucher (c. 1644-1696). Skeptic.
- Robert Boyle (c. 1627-1691).
- Nicolas Malebranche (c. 1638-1715). Cartesian.
- Samuel von Pufendorf (c. 1632-1694). Social contract theorist.
- Baruch Spinoza (c. 1632-1677).
- Isaac Newton (c. 1643-1727).
- Anne Conway (c. 1631-1679).
- Pierre Régis.
- John Locke (c. 1632-1704). Major Empiricist. Political philosopher.
- Damaris Masham.
- John Toland (c. 1670-1722).
- Pierre Bayle (c. 1647-1706). Pyrrhonist.
- Madeline de Souvré.
[edit] 1700-1750 CE
- Samuel Clarke (c. 1675-1729).
- Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (c. 1671-1713).
- John Norris (c. 1657-1711). Malebranchian.
- Gottfried Leibniz (c. 1646-1716). Co-inventor of the calculus.
- George Berkeley (c. 1685-1753). Idealist, empiricist.
- Catherine Cockburn (c. 1679-1749).
- Giambattista Vico (c. 1668-1744).
- Bernard Mandeville (c. 1670-1733).
- Francis Hutcheson (c. 1694-1746). Proto-utilitarian.
- Joseph Butler (c. 1692-1752).
- Christian Wolff (c. 1679-1754). Determinist, rationalist.
- John Gay (philosopher).
- David Hume (c. 1711-1776). Empiricist, skeptic.
- Julien La Mettrie (c. 1709-1751). Materialist, genetic determinist.
- David Hartley (c. 1705-1757).
- Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (c. 1689-1755). Skeptic, humanist.
[edit] 1750-1800 CE
- Etienne de Condillac.
- Richard Price (c. 1723-1791). Political liberal.
- Jean d'Alembert (c. 1717-1783).
- Voltaire (c. 1694-1778).
- Denis Diderot (c. 1713-1784).
- John Wesley (c. 1703-1791).
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (c. 1712-1778). Social contract political philosopher.
- Baron d'Holbach (c. 1723-1789). Materialist, atheist.
- Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771). Utilitarian.
- Adam Smith (c. 1723-1790). Economic theorist, member of Scottish Enlightenment.
- Thomas Jefferson (c. 1743-1826). Liberal political philosopher.
- Thomas Reid (c. 1710-1796). Member of Scottish Enlightenment, founder of Scottish Common Sense philosophy.
- G.E. Lessing (c. 1729-1781).
- Edmund Burke (c. 1729-1797). Conservative political philosopher.
- Immanuel Kant (c. 1724-1804),. Deontologist, proponent of synthetic a priori truths.
- Mary Wollstonecraft (c. 1759-1797). Feminist.
- Jeremy Bentham (c. 1748-1832). Utilitarian, hedonist.
- Moses Mendelssohn (c. 1729-1786). Member of the Jewish Enlightenment.
- Sylvain Maréchal (c. August 15, 1750—January 18, 1803) Anarcho-communist ,Deist
- Dugald Stewart (c. 1753-1828).
- William Godwin (c. 1756-1836). Anarchist, utilitarian.
- Friedrich Schiller (c. 1759-1805).
- William Paley (c. 1743-1805).
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte (c. 1762-1814).
[edit] Modern Philosophers
[edit] 1800-1850 CE
- Joseph de Maistre (c. 1753-1821) Conservative
- Madame de Staël (c. 1766-1817).
- F.W.J. von Schelling (c. 1775-1854). German idealist.
- Friedrich Schleiermacher (c. 1768-1834). Hermeneutician.
- P.S. de Laplace (c. 1749-1827). Determinist.
- G.W.F. Hegel (c. 1770-1831). German idealist.
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (c. 1744-1829). Early evolutionary theorist.
- Comte de Saint-Simon (c. 1760-1825). Socialist.
- Arthur Schopenhauer (c. 1788-1860). Pessimist.
- Richard Whately (c. 1787-1863).
- Charles Babbage (c. 1791-1871).
- John Austin (c. 1790-1859). Legal positivist, utilitarian.
- Auguste Comte (c. 1798-1857). Social philosopher, positivist.
- William Whewell (c. 1794-1866).
- James Mill (c. 1773-1836). Utilitarian.
- P.J. Proudhon (c. 1809-1865). Anarchist.
- Bernard Bolzano (c. 1781-1848).
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (c. 1803-1882). Abolitionist, egalitarian, humanist.
- Ludwig Feuerbach (c. 1804-1872).
- Augustus De Morgan (c. 1806-1871). Logician.
- Charles Darwin (c. 1809-1882).
- Margaret Fuller (c. 1810-1850). Egalitarian.
- Søren Kierkegaard (c. 1813-1855). Existentialist.
- Henry David Thoreau (c. 1817-1862). Pacifist.
[edit] 1850-1900 CE
- Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883). Egalitarian.
- Karl Marx (c. 1818-1883). Socialist, ,Atheist formulated historical materialism.
- Harriet Taylor Mill (c. 1807-1858). Egalitarian, utilitarian.
- Friedrich Engels (c. 1820-1895). Egalitarian, dialectical materialist.
- Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet (c. 1788-1856).
- J. S. Mill (c. 1806-1873). Utilitarian.
- Rudolf Lotze.
- Herbert Spencer (c. 1820-1903). Nativism, libertarianism, social Darwinism.
- John Venn (c. 1834-1923).
- Susan B. Anthony (c. 1820-1906). Feminist.
- Mikhail Bakunin (c. 1814-1876). Revolutionary anarchist.
- Franz Brentano (c. 1838-1917). Phenomenologist.
- Henry Sidgwick (c. 1838-1900). Rationalism, utilitarianism.
- Richard Dedekind (c. 1831-1916).
- W. K. Clifford (c. 1845-1879). Evidentialist.
- Charles Peirce (c. 1839-1914). Pragmatist.
- Edward Caird (c. 1835-1908). Idealist.
- Ernst Mach (c. 1838-1916). Philosopher of science, influence on logical positivism.
- T.H. Green (c. 1836-1882). British idealist.
- Gottlob Frege (c. 1848-1925). Influential analytic philosopher.
- Wilhelm Dilthey (c. 1833-1911).
- Friedrich Nietzsche (c. 1844-1900). Naturalistic philosopher, influence on Existentialism.
- Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (c. 1832-1898).
- Bernard Bosanquet (c. 1848-1923). Idealist.
- Giuseppe Peano (c. 1858-1932).
- Elizabeth Stanton (c. 1815-1902). Egalitarian.
- David George Ritchie (c. 1853–1903). Idealist.
- Émile Durkheim (c. 1858–1917). Social philosopher.
- William James (c. 1842-1910). Pragmatist.
- Josiah Royce (c. 1855-1916). Idealist.
- F.H. Bradley (c. 1846-1924) . Idealist.
- Vilfredo Pareto (c. 1848-1923). Social philosopher.
- Thorstein Veblen (c. 1857-1929). Social philosopher.
- Sigmund Freud (c. 1856-1939). Creator of psychodynamic philosophy of mind.
- Max Weber (c. 1864-1920). Social philosopher.
- Henri Bergson (c. 1859-1941).
- John Dewey (c. 1859-1952). Pragmatist.
- Alexius Meinong (c. 1853-1920). Logical realist.
- Cook Wilson.
- Henri Poincaré (c. 1854-1912).
- Pierre Duhem (c. 1861-1916).
- Edmund Husserl (c. 1859-1938). Founder of phenomenology.
- Samuel Alexander (c. 1859-1938). Perceptual realist.
- Jane Addams (c. 1860-1935). Pragmatist.
- Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison (c. 1856-1931).
- G.E. Moore (c. 1873-1958). Common sense theorist, ethical non-naturalist.
- Benedetto Croce (c. 1866-1952).
- Carl Jung (c. 1875-1961). Founded analytical psychology.
- Emma Goldman (c. 1869-1940). Anarchist.
- Hans Vaihinger (c. 1852-1933). Specialist in counterfactuals.
- Rosa Luxemburg (c. 1870-1919). Marxist political philosopher.
- Miguel de Unamuno (c. 1864-1936).
- Ferdinand de Saussure (c. 1857-1913). Linguistic structuralist.
- J. M. E. McTaggart (c. 1866-1925). Idealist.
- George Herbert Mead (c. 1863-1931). Pragmatist, symbolic interactionist.
- Alfred North Whitehead (c. 1861-1947). Logician.
- Martin Buber (c. 1878-1965). Jewish philosopher, existentialist.
[edit] 1900-2000 CE
- George Santayana (c. 1863-1952). Pragmatist, naturalist; known for many aphorisms
- Bertrand Russell (c. 1872-1970). Atheist, socialist, extremely influential
- Giovanni Gentile (c. 1875-1944). Idealist and Fascist philosopher
- Georg Lukács (c. 1885-1971). Marxist philosopher.
- C. D. Broad (c. 1887-1971).
- A.O. Lovejoy (c. 1873-1962).
- W.D. Ross (c. 1877-1971). Deontologist.
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (c. 1881-1955). Christian evolutionist.
- Nikolai Berdyaev (c. 1874-1948). Existentialist.
- Martin Heidegger (c. 1889-1976). Phenomenologist.
- Hans Kelsen (c. 1881-1973). Legal positivist.
- Moritz Schlick (c. 1882-1936). Founder of Vienna Circle, logical positivism.
- Otto Neurath (c. 1882-1945). Member of Vienna Circle.
- Frank P. Ramsey (c. 1903-1930). Proposed redundancy theory of truth.
- Ernst Cassirer (c. 1874-1945).
- Nicolai Hartmann (c. 1882-1950).
- Karl Barth (c. 1886-1968).
- Kurt Gödel (c. 1906-1978). Vienna Circle.
- Ralph Barton Perry (c. 1876-1957).
- Antonio Gramsci (c. 1891-1937). Marxist philosopher.
- Roman Ingarden (c. 1893-1970). Perceptual realist, phenomenalist.
- C.I. Lewis (c. 1883-1964). Conceptual pragmatist.
- Gaston Bachelard (c. 1884-1962).
- A.J. Ayer (c. 1910-1989). Logical positivist, emotivist.
- Friedrich Waismann (c. 1896-1959). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
- Jacques Maritain (c. 1882-1973). Human rights theorist.
- José Ortega y Gasset (c. 1883-1955). Philosopher of History.
- Alfred Tarski (c. 1901-1983). Created T-Convention in semantics.
- Rudolf Carnap (c. 1891-1970). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
- H.L.A. Hart (c. 1907-1992). Legal positivism.
- Willard van Orman Quine (c. 1908-2000).
- Brand Blanshard (c. 1892-1987).
- E. Nagel (c. 1901-1985). Logical positivist.
- Karl Popper (c. 1902-1994). Falsificationist.
- Ernest Addison Moody (c. 1903-1975).
- Jean-Paul Sartre (c. 1905-1980). Humanism, existentialism.
- Gilbert Ryle (c. 1900-1976).
- H.H. Price.
- Susanne Langer (c. 1895-1985).
- Albert Camus (c. 1913-1960). Absurdist.
- Mortimer Adler (c. 1902-2001).
- Karl Jaspers (c. 1883-1969). Existentialist.
- C.L. Stevenson (c. 1908-1979).
- Ludwig Wittgenstein (c. 1889-1951). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
- Theodor Adorno (c. 1903-1969). Frankfurt School.
- Alan Turing (c. 1912-1954). Functionalist in philosophy of mind.
- H.A. Prichard (c. 1871-1947). Moral intuitionist.
- Gabriel Marcel (c. 1889-1973). Christian existentialist.
- Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979). Frankfurt School.
- Simone Weil (c. 1909-1943).
- Simone de Beauvoir (c. 1908-1986). Existentialist, feminist.
- Frantz Fanon (c. 1925-1961).
- John Howard Yoder (c. 1927-1997) . Pacifist.
- John Rawls (1921-2002). Liberal.
- Robert Nozick (1938-2002). Libertarian.
- Richard Rorty (1931-2007). Pragmatism, Postanalytic philosophy.
- Jacques Derrida (1930-2004). Deconstruction.
- Michel Foucault (1926-1984). Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism.
[edit] See also
- From this point in time forward, see Contemporary philosophy.
[edit] References
- Kemerling, Garth (2002). "Timeline of Western Philosophers". http://www.philosophypages.com
- LaFave, Sandra (2006). "Chronological List of Western Philosophers". http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/CRONLIST.htm
- Russell, Bertrand (MCMLIX). Wisdom of the West. London: Rathbone Books, Ltd..
[edit] External links
- Jewish Intellectual Timeline, a parallel history of Jewish and non-Jewish intellectual ideas