List of Philosophers

LIST OF PHILOSOPHERS

Book List:
Poem on Nature by Parminides
Elements
Meditations
Confessions
City of God
The Consolation of Philosophy
Summa Theolgica by St. Thomas Aquinas
The Last Days of Socrates
Prince
Discourses

PRESOCRATICS

620 BC Thales of Miletus - the first natural scientist in Western Intellectual History and first philosopher of ancient Greece. Fundamental nature of the world is water. First thinker to not use the Homeric gods to explain the nature of the world. Correctly predicted a solar eclipse in 585 BC. Was an entrepreneur and invested in oil presses before a heavy olive crop. Water was the first principle of life - 3 states of water and moisture was needed in all things. He predicted that the flat earth floated on water and had buoyancy much like a ship on water. Thought that earthquakes were a result of subterrainean waves similar to a ship being rocked at sea. Thought God was in all things and was the mind of the universe - how India, Buddhism work.

550 BC Pythagoras of Samos - X2 + Y2 = Z2 in a right angled triangle. Thought that Babylonians and Egyptians knew this formula as well. (Was thought that Pythagoras travelled here as a boy. His students documented his thoughts and never wrote anything himself. He was a mystic and considered sort of cult leader. Taught students not to eat beans. Preached reincarnation and transmigration of souls, much like Nostradamus. Thought that nature of reality is numbers. Music has a special power over the soul and that intervals of music can be expressed in ratios of 1 to 4. The tetractys become an object of worship for Pythagoreans. The number 10 and four by four by four triangle. Later 2 schools of thought after him into religious teachings and scientific/math teachings. Ratio of a diagonal through a square of its sides could not be a whole number. (From Euclid's Window - He had many parallels to Christ. Rumored he lived on a mount, he could walk on water, he rose from the dead (but later to have thought it was a trap door, calm the waters, control the winds, appear at 2 places at once. He may have came up with Descartes system if he had just used a variable instead of claiming that irrational numbers were evil).

570 BC Xenophanes of Colophon - If horses could draw they would draw their gods like horses. Disagreed with Pythagoras. Criticized the Homerian gods because they had all the same flaws as humans did. Challenged Pythagoras that of the transmigration of souls into other beings, but said there was one single entity that causes all things through thought of his mind and does not resemble humans. Thought the first principle was mud not water as Thales had proclaimed. Based his thoughts on observation. Had saw fossils and thought that the world had dried up life and then recreated life through a reversal of the process. Predating Socrates, he thought that we should use caution regarding certain knowledge because that philosophical certainties could not be had. Even if we had hit upon the truth there was no way of knowing that things are as we think they are for certain. (perfect ex is Newton vs Einstein on concepts of time). Father to Karl Popper in thought.

600 BC Heraclitus - nicknamed 'The Riddler' cuz he would not explain the source of his logic. Everything is in a state of flux, or change and war and strife between opposites is the eternal condition of the universe. Mirrors the Oriental concepts of Yin and Yang. Antagonist to all of the above. Said Homer should've been whipped in public. Thought the 3 basic elements were Earth, Fire and Water. First version of the periodic table. Watery elements result in sleep, stupidity and vice. Thought there was a cosmic fire within man and that the virtuous soul can survive death of its physical body and eventually rejoin the cosmic fire. "God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, fullness and hunger." Thought that universal tension was necessary in order for change to continue and universal tension was eternally necessary. Permanence does not exist in the universe. (similar to Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching). Sounds very cynical as he had clear contempt for those that cannot see what is clearly in front of them. READ HIM... his cynical quotes.

ELEATICS
510 BC Parmendines of Elea - wrote a poem 'On Nature' and only fragments of it are left. One of the first examples of reasoned argument and disagreed with Heraclitus. Thought that change was homogenous and that reality is singular. His first part of the poem is called 'The Way of Truth', which he says was revealed by meeting a Goddess. (perhaps the virgin, or the sacred female in a certain form... just as Melchizek is Christ in the old testament... look up where he is stated). Difference of what it means to exist in the mind or exist in the world. Anselm's argument 1500 years later started to delve into this subject (READ HIM). Difference between words, thoughts and things (Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, WV Quine, TOLLE). Thought that there is no change because anything that exists in the future must have been thought of by someone else in the past. Coming into being and passing away are illusory, change is illusory: everything is one, undivided, changeless and eternal.

490 BC Zeno of Elea - "Achilles can never catch the tortoise no matter how fast he runs". Thought any 3D object could be split into infinity: therefore continuous and not discrete.

ACADEMICS
470 to 399 BC Socrates - "The only thing i know is that i know nothing". Born in Athens, there was great political upheaval. How we ought to live. What a good life for man might be. Father of Ethics. Was accused of corrupting the minds of the young. The only thing he was sure of was his own ignorance. About 70 years old when he was brought to trial. Put to death by the drinking of hemlock. Documented by Plato's: Apology, Crito and Phaedo".

427 to 347 BC - Plato - Lived to be 80 years old. The safest characterization of Western Philosophy is that a of a series of footnotes to Plato. Founder of the Academy, the first university. The world of experience is illusory. Only that which is unchanging and eternal is real. Tolle speaks of this too (linked to Parmindes). Universal concepts such as beauty, justice, truth and mathematical concepts. Theory of Forms is in Plato's Republic: A utopian society led by an elite class of guardians who are trained from birth for the task of ruling. (My dream is it not). Much like communism (Russell had critiqued this idea), the individual would figure out how his talents could benefit society the best and go to work the best he could. Is Plato's utopia the same as Marx?

384 to 322 BC - Aristotle - He only lived 62 years on earth. More than just a philosopher, Aristotle was a scientist, astronomer and political theorist and inventor of symbolic or formal logic. His writings on justice are still required readings for law school in modern times. Was preserved through Islam and Syria, ignored by Christians until St. Thomas Aquinas reconciled it into Christian doctrine in the 13th century. Started education at Plato's Academy at age 17. He stayed here for 20 years until Plato's death. Founded his own institution called 'The Lyceum'. Used much data and observation in his studies. Father of empirical science and the scientific method. Everything has a purpose (look at the scientific method step 1). 'John goes to work to make money, John goes to school to get a job, a job exists to make money, money is needed for many purposes that john has'. Man's highest purpose is to reason.

ATOMISTS
460 to 370 BC Democritus - The fundamental nature of the universe consists of indivisible atoms in constant motion. Thought that the universe consists of indivisible atoms in constant motion and traveling in an infinite void. Every event in the universe is caused by some pre-determined event. Much like a billiard ball hitting another ball causes both to go into a different direction. Newton agreed with his theory of the infinite void and matter. Einstein disagreed and believed that space should be treated as matter

341 to 270 BC Epicurus - his ethics consisted of in the pursuit of happiness, conceived of as the elimination of pain. Believed that free will was the result of atoms being free to choose which way they should travel. The soul was just a bunch of atoms moving within the material body. However, he that that happiness was the elimination of mental and physical pain. Mental pain being worse as it can overcome physical pain. Wisdom was the greatest virtue because it allowed one to recognize the difference between pain and pleasure; happiness comes from being virtuous not because of being good, but because it resulted in pleasure and not pain.

CYNICS
400 to 325 BC Diogenes of Sinope - Nicknamed the dog for his vagrant lifestyle, Diogenes was described as 'a Socrates gone mad' (Plato described him this way). Happiness could only be achieved by living according to nature. Reviled metaphysics and pretensions of philosophers. He begged, refused to wear anything but simple cloth; once masturbated in front of a large crowd to show how easily and trivially sexual desires can be sated. Mastery of self, leads to both happiness and freedom but requires constant practice and training in the face of adversity. One should abandon all property, possessions, family ties, social values in order to minimize the distraction of illusory emotional and psychological attachments. This is almost anarchist. Was highly influential among stoic philosophers and had a counterpart in Buddhism and Taoism.

STOICS
106 to 43 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero - dialogues are principally a 'pick and mix' of the three leading Greek philosophical schools. Came up with the term ceterus paribas.

20 BC Philo of Alexandria - A Jew by birth and upbringing; remembered for for his philosophical commentaries on the scriptures. The mind belonged to God and is of God whereas the body belongs to the world. The rational and irrational are the 2 parts of the soul and are bound together by the spirit. The goal of man is to reach out to the divine and so return as far as possible to the divine source. Scriptures should not be taken literally but allegorically; contains hidden truths. Tried to take Plato's philosophy and apply it to the book of Moses. First influential Jewish / Greek philosopher.

4 BC to AD65 Lucius Annaeus Seneca - the heart of his philosophy was the belief in a simple life devoted to virtue and reason. Committed suicide and was imprisoned 3 times. Falsely accused of planning against Nero. We can attain happiness only by acting in accord with our own true nature, as revealed by our inner guide, and by being content with one's lot in life.

121 to 180 Marcus Aurelius - The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. He wrote 'Meditations'. All ensouled beings strive towards self-preservation. Self-preservation leads a being to look for that which is in tune with its nature and appropriate to its own being. Man being endowed with reason, seeks not just food, warmth and shelter, but also that which is good for the intellect. Ultimately, reason allows us to choose that which is in tune with our true nature with greater accuracy than if we merely follow our animal instinct. Virtue includes the usual list of Greco-Roman excellences: wisdom, justice, courage and moderation. GLADIATOR???

SCEPTICS
10 to 200 Sextus Empiricus - The intention of scepticism is to bring about a kind of therapeutic apostasy. Because of the logical gap we cannot close because knowledge of reality is always mediated by the fallible bodily senses, there is no way in proving that things are really one way rather than another.A sceptic, by suspending all judgement of what is good or bad, right or wrong, true or false, neither pursues nor avoids anything with any passion or intensity. He remains indifferent to the vicissitudes of life, and hence achieves tranquillity. This is the heart of Buddha's teaching.

NEOPLANTONISTS
205 to 270 Plotinus - believed in a trio of divinities, these being the One, the Intellect and the Soul. The One is the ineffable mystical source of reality. The Intellect is the intuitive knowledge. Soul corresponds to rational or discursive thinking. Intellect is the higher part of the soul, Nature is the lower part of the soul which is materialism.

CHRISTIANS
354 to 430 St. Augustine of Hippo - Rational thought is the servant of faith: unless thou believe thou shalt not understand (last part in Isaiah). Wrote Confessions and City of God. Only through faith can wisdom be attained. He saw that philosophy and religion as quests for the same thing, namely truth, but with the former inferior to the latter in this pursuit. The philosopher without faith could never attain to the ultimate truth. In his youth he had renounced religion, finding the scriptures intellectually unsatisfying. After converting to Christianity in his early thirties, it became his aim to show how reason could prove the tenets of faith. All men are born in sin. Redemption is only possible by the grace of God regardless of our actions on earth. Adam by taking the apple had condemned himself by taking the apple. Confessions I. 8 - talks about how to read people through bodily language and expressions on their faces as a universal language.

480 to 524 Boethius - Those that do ill shall suffer more if they are not caught than those that are. Was executed by a gothic king, Theodoric. He wrote De Consolatione Philosophiae (or The Consolation of Philosophy), the most widely read and influential book after the Bible up to and throughout the Middle Ages. Boethius has a conversation with Philosophy alternately written in prose (his thoughts and reflections) and verse (wisdom and philosophy responds this way). Unlike Augustine he appeals to reason rather than faith; he delves into the problems of evil, free will, determinism, the nature of justice and of virtue. The substance of God consists of nothing but goodness; taken from Plato. God is a spectator rather than an intervening agent. 'Virtuous men are always powerful, and bad men always weak, for both desire the good but only the virtuous get it.' HIs work in The Consolation of Philosophy is compared to that of The Last Days of Socrates. Freewill vs. predestination argument.

SCHOLASTICS
1033 to 1109 St Anselm - 'The quality of perfection is an attribute only applicable to God'. His students challenged him to come up with an argument for the existence of God. He came up with the Ontological argument for the existence of God. God = something than which nothing greater can be thought of. It is a contradiction to say there is something than which nothing can greater can be thought and then doesn't exist. A God thought of that does not exist is surpassed by a God that can be thought of and does exist. So therefore suppose he exists, something than which nothing greater can be thought of must be something that exists. St. Thomas and Descartes had been proponents of this; whereas Kant was against it.

1225 to 1274 St Thomas Aquinas - If the hand does not move the stick, the stick will not move anything else. He believed that faith first was more important than reason and that reason could explain faith, faith was more powerful. Reconciled Aristotle with the Catholic church. Came up with the 5 ways to prove the existence of God in Summa Theologica: (1) Concept of change - We see and witness change and it continues on ad infinitum. It follows that there must have been a source of the change. The first mover must be God. (2) There are always causes to every series, but there must be a first cause of the series or there could not be a series at all. NOTE: both of these first two theories rely on the fact that a thing cannot cause itself. But he assumes that God can cause itself so a huge contradiction in logic. philosophers criticize this form of logic as the proposition that is concluded in the argument is the very same one being denied in the argument. (3) We observe that things come into being and then pass away, but clearly not everything can be like this for then there would have been a time when nothing existed. But something can't come from nothing. The first 3 arguments are called Cosmological arguments. (4) Things have a varying degree of quality good, hot, noble. These are affected by some perfect degree of quality; for example all hot things come from the perfect hot source, the sun. It follows there must be some other good thing that makes all other things good; meaning God. (5) Concept of Purpose - that all things have a greater purpose or goal (taken from Aristotle). The director of that is God. Catholic church still accepts his teachings; most modern philosophers reject all 5 teachings.

1266 to 1308 John Duns Scotus - is immortalized in the English language for giving his name to the term 'dunce'. (1) There are principles known by themselves (2) There are things known immediately by experience (3) There is knowledge of our own actions. He specifically was more famous for his argument as space and time being part of form. If we say form rather than matter is what makes a thing up. Form includes space and time rather then just matter. For if it was just matter then 2 genetically identical apples could be said to be the exact same thing when they are of course 2 separate things or objects. So the space and time that thing occupies also is part of the form that makes it up so if that becomes a necessary part of the object then of course both are separate entities. Large subject of debate in philosophy.

? - 1347 William of Occam - Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity. Religious maverick and was in trouble with the Church quite often. Likely died of the plague. Why postulate two separate theories when one will do. A minimalist in theory. Also believed in singularity; no intervention from a supreme being but that it is still the source of all things. So believed in free will.

THE AGE OF SCIENCE
1473 to 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus - revived the idea that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun. Polish scientist. Inventor of modern astronomy he delayed his publication for fear of censure from the Church. Studied Greek philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, theology. Truly believed that his views and findings were consistent with his theology. Prior to Copernicus followed that the earth was the center of the universe; through Aristotle and Ptolemy. His theory was actually originally thought of in 340 BC. Earth does one full rotation every 24 hours and rotates around the sun every 364 days. Church vigorously resisted since it placed man at the centrepoint of the universe. Said his own work was hypothetical but the evidence was too enormous eventually from the scientists Galileo, Newton, Kepler. The heliocentric theory was eventually irrefutable but condemned by the Church. Copernicus was very careful and dedicated his work to the pope. Later the Church condemned the work as heretical. Copernicus was the turning point and the birth of the Scientific age and the fall of the power of the Church.

1467 to 1527 Niccolo Machiavelli - Never has the ends justify the means been more appropriate. Born in Florentine during the Italian Renaissance. If a ruler realizes that ends are worthwile, he considers how best to achieve his ends. 3 primary political goods: (1) National Security (2) National Independence (3) Strong constitution. One must pursue one's convictions with strength and courage if one is to be successful, employing whatever means necessary. The manipulation of others for power. It can often serve one's political ends to appear to be virtuous. (likely causal of most outrage). The Prince was written more extreme than his other more balanced work Discourses. Machiavelli ultimately believed in a society like Plato's republic run by Princes that was not run by tyranny, but it was how this was ultimately achieved was his concern. (likely speed to the ultimate objective was the issue at hand).

1466 to 1536 Desiderus Erasmus - religion is a confidence in human reason to know and worship God

1478 to 1535 Thomas More
1561 to 1626 Francis Bacon
1564 to 1642 Galileo Galilei
1588 to 1679 Thomas Hobbes
1642 to 1727 Sir Isaac Newton

RATIONALISTS
1596 to 1650 Rene Descartes
1612 to 1694 Antoine Arnauld
1638 to 1715 Nicolas Malebranche
1632 to 1677 Benedict de Spinoza
1646 to 1716 Gottried von Leibniz

EMPERICISTS
1632 to 1704 John Locke
1711 to 1776 David Hume
1710 to 1796 Thomas Reid
1694 to 1778 Voltaire (father of the Enlightenment period)
1712 to 1778 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1713 to 1784 Denis Diderot

IDEALISTS
1685 to 1783 George Berkeley
1724 to 1804 Immanuel Kant
1759 to 1805 Johann Schiller
1775 to 1854 Fredereck Schelling
1770 to 1831 George Hegel
1788 to 1860 Arthur Schopenhauer

LIBERALS

1723 to 1790 Adam Smith - "unintended consequences of intended action will be to the benefit of society at large". Essentially the idea serving ones own interests one unintentionally serves the interests of the society as a whole. This occurs through the forces of market economyScottish philosopher of morals, politics and economics. Very close to Hume in his thoughts. His theories on thoughts and logic was published in the book titled "Theory of the Moral Sentiments" and political economics in the "The Wealth of Nations". Favored philosopher of Margaret Thatcher. Assumes the absence of a monopoly, which is naive. Unintended consequences are UK and brutal working conditions through exploitation. Some say currently this still occurs but is transferred from Developed to 3rd world nations. Don't think this is necessarily true though because you need a government or form of law that respects generally accepted rules of conduct for human rights.

1759 to 1797 Mary Wollstonecraft - suffrage movement taken seriously after this point forward. "The neglected education of my fellow-creatues is the grand source of misery I deplore." Died at the age of 38 giving birth to a child. Campaigned for the rights of women similar to Thomas Paine. She wrote "Vindication for the Rights of Women" and "Vindication for the Rights of Man". Claimed that British people had the right to remove a bad king and that slavery and the treatment of the poor at that time were immoral. Indeed, unlike some strands of the modern feminist movement she saw the rights of both men and women as mutual and inextricably linked. She was concerned that women's natural abilities were being suppressed through an education that emphasized those to flatter men rather then enhance their own natural abilities as people. Blamed education being written by men and stating that women are not of the same equality but rather treated as mistresses. To treat women as mere trifles encourages them to be cunning and sly, and is perpetuated in children. Advocate of the abolition of the monarchy and dissolution of the church as she saw these as oppressive regimes. If she had not died so early she may have pushed the rights of women much faster. The world had to wait 200 years later for Simone de Beauvoir to find an equal that just as much influence.

1737 to 1809 Thomas Paine - "The proceeds of land and property tax should be invested in a welfare system." English philospher and invented the term United States of America. He was forced to flee England. Came to the new world in the 1770s and wrote for the Pennsylvania Magazine calling for the abolition of slavery. Wrote the book "Common Sense". Also wrote and published "The Rights of Man". Also wrote the "Age of Reason". rejects organized religion and a vengeful God portrayed in the Old Testament. the original foundations of the USA were based on his philosophy. He is rarely mentioned.

1748 to 1832 Jeremy Bentham
1806 to 1873 John Stuart Mill
1798 to 1857 August Comte

EVOLUTIONISTS
1809 to 1892 Charles Darwin
1859 to 1941 Henri Louis Bergson
1861 to 1947 A. N. Whitehead

PRAGMATISTS
1838 to 1916 Ernst Mach
1839 to 1914 Charles Peirce
1842 to 1910 Williams James
1859 to 1952 John Dewey

MATERIALISTS
1818 to 1883 Karl Marx
1820 to 1895 Friedrich Engels
1870 to 1924 Vladimir Lenin
1856 to 1939 Sigmund Freud
1875 to 1961 Carl Jung
1883 to 1946 John Maynard Keynes

EXISTENTIALISTS
1813 to 1855 Soren Kierkegaard
1844 to 1900 Friedrich Nietzche
1858 to 1938 Edmund Husserl
1889 to 1976 Martin Heidegger
1905 to 1980 Jean-Paul Sartre
1913 to 1960 Albert Camus
1908 to 1986 Simone de Beauvoir

LINGUISTIC TURN
1848 to 1925 Gottlob Frege - father of the information age
1872 to 1970 Bertrand Russell
1889 to 1951 Ludwig Wittgenstein
1857 to 1913 Ferdinand de Saussure
1873 to 1958 George Edward Moore
1882 to 1936 Mortiz Schlick
1896 to 1934 Lev Vygotsky
1891 to 1970 Rudolph Carnap
1910 to 1989 A.J. Ayer
1902 to 1983 Alfred Tarski
1911 to 1960 J.L. Austin
1900 to 1976 Gilbert Ryle
1928 to current Noam Chomsky

POSTMODERNISTS
1908 to present Claude Levi-Strauss
1926 to 1984 Michel Foucault
1930 to 2004 Jacques Derrida

NEW SCIENTISTS
1858 to 1917 Emile Durkheim
1879 to 1955 Albert Einstein
1902 to 1994 Karl Popper
1906 to 1978 Kurt Godel
1912 to 1954 Alan Turing
1904 to 1990 B.F. Skinner
1922 to 1996 Thomas Kuhn
1924 to 1994 Paul Feyerabend

1908 to 2000 W.V.O Quine - Wrote the "Pursuit of Truth" in 1990 and was the ultimate empiricist against Kant. Also wrote an article called the "Two Dogmas of Empericism" in the year 1951 and "Word and Object" in 1960. He was born in Akron, Ohio and died Christmas day. Influential in mathematical logic. "Only science can tell us about the world: it is the final arbiter of truth." And the way we obtain our knowledge is through sensory perceptions.