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470 BCE
Socrates of Athens
Socrates was born circa 470 BC, in Athens, Greece. We know of his life through the writings of his students, including Plato and Xenophon. His "Socratic method," laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy. When the political climate of Greece turned, Socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning in 399 BC. He accepted this judgment rather than fleeing into exile. -
427 BCE
Plato
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the development of Western philosophy. -
384 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidiki, in the north of Classical Greece. Along with Plato, he is considered the "Father of Western Philosophy"He was a student of Plato who in turn studied under Socrates. He was more empirically-minded than Plato or Socrates and is famous for rejecting Plato's theory of forms. -
354
Augustine
Augustine is remarkable for what he did and extraordinary for what he wrote. If none of his written works had survived, he would still have been a figure to be reckoned with, but his stature would have been more nearly that of some of his contemporaries. -
1225
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas was born to parents who were in possession of a modest feudal domain on a boundary constantly disputed by the emperor and the pope. His father was of Lombard origin; his mother was of the later invading Norman heritage. His people were distinguished in the service of Emperor Frederick II during the civil strife in southern Italy between the papal and imperial forces. -
1561
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon was the outstanding apostle of Renaissance empiricism. Less an original metaphysician or cosmologist than the advocate of a vast new program for the advancement of learning and the reformation of scientific method, Bacon conceived of philosophy as a new technique of reasoning that would reestablish natural science on a firm foundation. -
René Descartes
Philosopher René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596, in La Haye en Touraine, a small town in central France, which has since been renamed after him to honor its most famous son. But he was very concerned with good education and sent René, at age 8, to boarding school at the Jesuit college of Henri IV in La Flèche, several miles to the north, for seven years. -
John Locke
John Locke FRS was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". -
Immanuel Kant
The philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) can be divided into two major branches. His theoretical philosophy, which includes metaphysics, is based on the rational understanding of the concept of nature. The second, his practical philosophy, comprising ethics and political philosophy, is based on the concept of freedom. Both of these branches have been enormously influential in the subsequent history of philosophy -
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
was a German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism. He achieved wide recognition in his day and—while primarily influential within the continental tradition of philosophy—has become increasingly influential in the analytic tradition as well.[31] Although Hegel remains a divisive figure, his canonical stature within Western philosophy is universally recognized. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin (February 12, 1809 to April 19, 1882) was a naturalist and biologist known for his theory of evolution and the process of natural selection. Born in Shrewsbury, England, in 1831 he embarked on a five-year survey voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle; his studies of specimens led him to formulate his theories. In 1859, he published On the Origin of Species. -
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey is one of the primary figures associated with the philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of the fathers of functional psychology.
