Timeline of Western philosophers
Timeline of Eastern | Western philosophers
This is a list of philosophers from the Western tradition of philosophy.
Western philosophers
Ancient Greece
600–500 BC
Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 546 BC). Of the Milesian school . Believed that all was made of water.
Pherecydes of Syros (c. 620 – c. 550 BC). Cosmologist.
Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 – 546 BC). Of the Milesian school . Famous for the concept of Apeiron , or "the boundless".
Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585 – 525 BC). Of the 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.
Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570 – 480 BC). Advocated monotheism. Sometimes associated with the Eleatic school.
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BC). Of the Ionians. Emphasized the mutability of the universe.
Epicharmus of 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
Hellenistic era
300–200 BC
Classical Rome
100 BC–100 AD
100–400
Middle Ages
500–900
1000–1100
1200–1300
1400
Early modern period
1500
1600
1700
Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). American philosophical theologian.
David Hartley (1705–1757).
Julien La Mettrie (1709–1751). Materialist , genetic determinist .
Thomas Reid (1710–1796). Member of Scottish Enlightenment, founder of Scottish Common Sense philosophy.
David Hume (1711–1776). Empiricist , skeptic .
Jean–Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). Social contract political philosopher.
Denis Diderot (1713–1784).
Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762).
Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771). Utilitarian .
Etienne de Condillac (1715–1780).
Jean d'Alembert (1717–1783).
Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789). Materialist , 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.
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827). 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).
Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Socialist .
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814).
Madame de Staël (1766–1817).
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834). Hermeneutician .
Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843). Poet and philosopher.
G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831). German idealist .
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834).
James Mill (1773–1836). Utilitarian .
F. W. J. von Schelling (1775–1854). German idealist .
Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848).
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860). Pessimism, Critic , Absurdist .
Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881).
Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883). Egalitarian, abolitionist.
Auguste Comte (1798–1857). Social philosopher , positivist .
Modern philosophers
1800–1850
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882). Transcendentalist , abolitionist , egalitarian , humanist .
Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872).
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859).
Max Stirner (1806–1856). Anarchist .
Augustus De Morgan (1806–1871). Logician .
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). Utilitarian .
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865). Anarchist .
Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858). Egalitarian, utilitarian.
Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Scientist , whose works affected Philosophy of Science .
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850). Egalitarian .
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). Existentialist .
Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876). Revolutionary anarchist.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902). Egalitarian.
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). Transcendentalist , pacifist , abolitionist .
Karl Marx (1818–1883). 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.
Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). 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.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913). Linguist , Semiotics , Structuralism .
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917). 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
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Process Philosophy , Mathematician , Logician , Philosophy of Physics , Panpsychism .
George Herbert Mead (1863–1931). Pragmatism , symbolic interactionist .
George Santayana (1863–1952). Pragmatism , naturalism ; known for many aphorisms .
Max Weber (1864–1920). Social philosopher.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936). Existentialist .
Benedetto Croce (1866–1952).
Lev Shestov (1868–1938).
Emma Goldman (1869–1940). Anarchist .
Rosa Luxemburg (1870–1919). Marxist political philosopher.
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970). Analytic philosopher , nontheist , influential.
G. E. Moore (1873–1958). Common sense theorist, ethical non–naturalist.
Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948). Existentialist .
Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945). Neo-Kantianism .
Max Scheler (1874–1928). German phenomenologist.
Carl Jung (1875–1961). Psychoanalyst, metaphysicist.
Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944). Idealist and fascist philosopher.
Martin Buber (1878–1965). Jewish philosopher, existentialist .
Jan Łukasiewicz (1878-1956). Logician .
Oswald Spengler (1880 – 1936).
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973).
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955). Christian evolutionist .
Hans Kelsen (1881–1973). 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.
Karl Jaspers (1883–1969). Existentialist .
Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962).
Otto Rank (1884–1939).
Georg Lukács (1885–1971). Marxist philosopher.
Karl Barth (1886–1968).
René Guénon (1886 – 1951).
Carl Schmitt (1888 – 1985).
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). Analytic philosopher , philosophy of language , philosophy of mind , influential.
Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973). Christian existentialist .
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). Phenomenologist.
Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937). Marxist philosopher.
Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
Walter Benjamin (1892–1940). Marxist. Philosophy of language.
Herman Dooyeweerd (1894–1977). Philosophy of the Law Idea.
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 .
Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991). Marxist philosopher
Alfred Tarski (1901–1983). Created T–Convention in semantics.
Michael Oakeshott (1901 – 1990).
Karl Popper (1902–1994). Philosopher of Science .
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
María Zambrano (1904-1991)
Raymond Aron (1905 – 1983).
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980). Humanism, existentialism .
Ayn Rand (1905–1982). Objectivist , Individualist .
Kurt Gödel (1906–1978). Vienna Circle.
Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995).
Hannah Arendt (1906–1975). Political Philosophy .
H.L.A. Hart (1907–1992). Legal positivism .
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961). Influential French phenomenologist.
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986). Existentialist , feminist.
Willard van Orman Quine (1908–2000).
Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997), historian of ideas.
Simone Weil (1909–1943).
A. J. Ayer (1910–1989). Logical positivist, emotivist.
J. L. Austin (1911–1960).
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980). 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 .
Paulo Freire (1921–1997). Pedagogy .
Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996). Author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions .
Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017). Polish sociologist and philosopher, who introduced the idea of 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 .
Hilary Putnam (1926–2016). 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 .
Charles Taylor (born 1931). Political philosophy , Philosophy of Social Science , and Intellectual History.
John Searle (born 1932). Direct realism .
Alvin Plantinga (born 1932). Reformed epistemology , Philosophy of Religion .
Jerry Fodor (1935–2017).
Alain Badiou (born 1937).
Thomas Nagel (born 1937). Qualia theory.
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 .
Daniel Dennett (born 1942–2024).
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 1942). Postcolonialism , Feminism , Literary theory .
Roger Scruton (1944-2020). Traditionalist conservatism .
Simon Blackburn (1944). Analytic philosophy .
Peter Singer (born 1946) Moral philosopher on animal liberation , effective altruism .
Bruno Latour (1947-2022) French Philosopher, anthropologist, sociologist.
Camille Paglia (born 1947).
Martha Nussbaum (born 1947). Political philosopher.
Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born 1949).
Slavoj Žižek (born 1949). German Idealism , Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis .
Ken Wilber (born 1949). Integral Theory .
1950–2000
See also
References
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