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Enabled the advancement of civilization through the use of bronze for making tools and weapons.
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Cuneiform, the first form of writing, was invented by the Sumerians. This led to the recording of stories, history, and ideas, and allowed for their spread throughout the ancient world.
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The Egyptians developed the use of papyrus for writing on, which made writing much easier and less laborious than the use of stone tablets. This was of particular importance for the development and spread of ideas when papyrus was introduced to the Greeks.
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Allowed for greater advancement through the use of stronger tools and weapons.
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Homer writes The Iliad and The Odyssey, establishing the mythology and culture of Greece that would serve as a worldview and impetus for many Greek thinkers.
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Birth of Thales, who was considered to be both the first philosopher and first scientist. He accurately predicted an eclipse in 585 BC. He was the first to ask the question of what the fundamental principles of the universe were, positing that it was water, and he approached his question with rational arguments.
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A student of Thales, he proposed that air, not water, was the fundamental principle of the universe.
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He believed in the immortality of the soul and that each soul would be reincarnated and inhabit a new person. He discovered numbers and their governing importance in the world for things such as music. He is famous for developing the Pythagorean theorem in mathematics.
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Known as the Buddha, he established the religion of Buddhism based on ideas of asceticism. He believed the soul was in an eternal quest to achieve the state of nirvana.
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Founder of the philosophy Confucianism, he advocated for meritocracy. His beliefs formed the foundations of East Asian culture.
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Continued the same questioning as Thales, and he believed that the indefinite was the source of all things.
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Developed the idea of the Nous, or the Cosmic mind, which was the fundamental principle of the universe.
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Hypothesized that everything is in an ever-present state of change, or flux. He believed the fundamental principle of the universe to be fire.
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The first Sophist, he argued that there is no objective truth and that whatever someone believes to be true is true. He claimed that language can be twisted by anyone to justify their own beliefs, thus language is the only thing worth believing in.
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Postulated that everything is one, nothing can be delineated from anything else, change is impossible, and nothing can be described as “nothing.”
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One of the founders of Western philosophy, he is considered to be the first moral philosopher of Western ethics. He produced no written works, but his use of asking question to achieve the answer to moral and philosophical issues became known as the Socratic method, and he had extraordinary influence on Western thought.
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Birth of Democritus, who proposed Atomic theory. This belief held that the fundamental principle of the universe was the indivisible atom, of which there were an infinite number, leading to his conclusion that the universe itself was thus also infinite. According to Democritus, the universe is nothing but atoms and void.
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A student of Socrates, he became known as the first Western political philosopher. His seminal work "Republic" records dialogues of Socrates about justice. He established the dialectic form and the Academy. Platonic philosophy has been widely influential since his time, and his writings have been available throughout all of human history since his death.
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A student of Plato, he was an incredibly influential philosopher who also wrote at length about government, logic, ethics, and physics. He established the Lyceum, and his views on physical science were widely accepted for hundreds of years. He also had an enormous impact on several Western religions, including Christianity.
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A student of Aristotle, he conquered the known world. By doing so, Alexander created the Hellenistic World, allowing for the easy spread of ideas due to the common language of Greek throughout the nations.
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An influential Greek philosopher, he founded The Garden to oppose Plato's philosophical ideas. He believe that the sole purpose of life was to avoid pain and achieve pleasure wherever possible. His philosophy of Epicureanism would lead to hedonism.
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Inspired by the Cynics, Zeno promoted Stoicism, which advocated a life of virtue based on harmony with nature. His philosophy was popular among both Greeks and Romans.
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A highly influential mathematician and thinker, he is considered the father of geometry.
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Wrote his epic poem "On the Nature of Things," which combined aspects of both Epicureanism and Stoicism. He combined elements of philosophy and science, and he tried to bring philosophy to the common man without condescension.
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Jesus advocated personal sacrifice and Christian morals and ethics that would shape Western culture for thousands of years after his death, giving rise to Christianity taught by his disciples.
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Penned "The City of God," arguing that the Christian way of life had nothing to do with the imminent collapse of Rome. He authored significant early church doctrine, including that of original sin.
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Translated some of Aristotle's works, including "Organon," from Greek to Latin for their scholastic preservation. He also advocated the idea of joining faith and reason whenever possible, which became the major idea of the Middle Ages.
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Often scorned as "The Dark Ages," the Middle Ages was a period of relatively little obvious advancement in ideas, however progress was made in certain areas, and monks preserved a large number of classical works for posterity.
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Combined foundational Roman law with Christian morals and ethics to produce the Civil Law Code, the backbone of moral law in Western society.
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Founder of Islam, which he rapidly spread throughout the Middle East.
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Islamic thinker who wrote encyclopedic compendiums combining knowledge of philosophy, science, and medicine based on Aristotelian thought that was highly influential to Western thinkers.
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Known his great commentaries on Aristotle's works, he attempted to combine Aristotelian thought with the Islamic faith. His ideas were largely ignored by Islam, however, and were much more influential on the West.
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The first document limiting the powers of a government over its people, it was an incredibly historic document that was the first to promise certain rights, such as religious freedoms and justice, to its people.
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A proponent of natural theology, he attempted to synthesize much of Aristotle's work with Catholicism. His influence on Western thought was immense, not only on the Church, but in areas of ethics and metaphysics as well.
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His rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often cited as the catalyst of the Renaissance. He promoted humanism and was a central figure of the Renaissance, being the first to postulate the idea of the Dark Ages. His sonnets were of extraordinary influence on a number of writers and poets, including Shakespeare.
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A rebirth of classical thought, the period was defined by the philosophy of humanism. Scholars studied widely across fields of art, philosophy, and science, spreading ideas both new and rediscovered across Europe.
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With the invention of moveable type, Gutenberg created a printing press that allowed for the mass production of written work. This created a large scale spread in ideas, and it allowed for the promulgation of the Protestant Reformation.
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The most famous Renaissance figure, his paintings and inventions inspired the ideas of many other great thinkers.
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An Italian philosopher and scientist, he epitomized the concept of a Renaissance man. His "Oration on the Dignity of Man" has been referred to as the "Manifesto of the Renaissance."
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Providing a harsh counterpoint to the Christian ethics that dominated the Middle Ages, Machiavelli promoted political ideas of diplomacy that only served to benefit the person in charge. He believed that the ends justified the means.
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An influential scientist and thinker, his published theory of the heliocentric nature of the universe is widely believed to be the catalyst of the Scientific Revolution.
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One of the first major Protestant reformers, his Ninety-Five Theses sparked upheaval in the Church. He challenged Church doctrine on indulgences, as well as translations of scripture. He translated his own Luther Bible into the German vernacular, allowing for people to read the Bible themselves.
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Time period marked by immense scientific progress, including the development of the scientific method. This era gave rise to the belief that the secrets of the universe were comprehensible, and many fundamental principles of the universe were discovered. Staunch opposition of some ideas by the Church led to a further diminishment of the power of the Church in the West.
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A philosopher and scientist, he was one of the primary developers of the scientific method and argued for empiricism based on studying nature, making him very influential throughout the Scientific Revolution.
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One of the most important scientists of all time, he is hailed as the father of modern science and physics, as well as of observational astronomy. Using his telescope, he observed the rotation and movement of the planets. He argued both faith and science for his observations against the Catholic Church.
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An influential philosopher, Descartes believed in the science of ethics and summed up existence in a being's cognitive ability thusly: "Cogito ergo sum." Following this, he also developed a rational "proof" of God's existence.
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A staunch empiricist, Locke believed in the "tabula rasa," that all humans were born as blank slates with no preconceived notions or innate ideas. His writings were influential for a number of thinkers and philosophers, notably Thomas Jefferson, whose Declaration of Independence and concept of separation of church and state were largely based on Locke's views.
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One of the greatest scientists and mathematicians of all time, Newton's chief successes were the discovery of gravity and his development of calculus independent of but simultaneous to Leibniz. His "Principia" was a groundbreaking work, and his Laws of Motion form the basis of Newtonian mechanics and physics. His work was instrumental to accounting for the movement of celestial bodies.
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One of the great skeptics, he opposed rationalism. He argued that inductive reasoning and causality were ideas that could not be justified.
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Marked by an increased in philosophical thought, the Enlightenment is often known as the Age of Reason. Enlightenment thinking led to a number of revolutions as well as a fundamental change in thinking about government and the rights of man.
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He outlined the basic tenets of capitalism in his seminal work, "The Wealth of Nations." This argued for little to no government involvement in the free market economy, as he theorized that the "invisible hand" of the market would guide the economy. His ideas were influential on Western economic theory.
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One of the central figures of the Enlightenment, he built off of Hume's ideas to argue against skepticism. Kant believed that the true nature of things was unknowable to man as part of his doctrine of transcendental idealism.
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Jefferson is one of the most prominent founding fathers of America. He is recognized as the chief architect of the Declaration of Independence, and his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was the basis of the First Amendment. He later served as the first Secretary of State and third president of the nascent country.
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Marked by rapid progress and rampant innovation in technology and new ideas, the Industrial Revolution overhauled the labor system of the time and modernized life.
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An enigmatic but important philosopher, Hegel was an idealist most known for his Hegelian dialectic, which was based on the ongoing cycle of a cultural thesis and antithesis producing a new synthesis. His work was influential to Marx.
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A proclamation to the "tyrannical" King George, the Declaration of Independence officially set off a Revolution that began the previous year. Appealing to the God given rights of man, this was the first foundational document of the United States, written by Thomas Jefferson and largely inspired by John Locke.
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The pinnacle and ultimate final realization of the Enlightenment, the Constitution established a stronger federal government than the Articles of Confederation while maintaining maximum liberties for American citizens. It is still considered perhaps the greatest governing document ever written.
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Drafted by Lafayette based on his time in America and his work with Jefferson, this declaration echoed many of the assertions of human rights put forth by America, but it was explicitly limited to men, and ultimately was not as successful.
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After observing animals all over the world on his five year stint on the HMS Beagle, Darwin's "Origin of the Species" hypothesized the theory of evolution to explain the origins of mankind, which would fundamentally change science forever.
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A Danish existentialist philosopher, Kierkegaard was primarily concerned with Christian ethics. He explored the subjects of love and angst.
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His famous "Communist Manifesto" predicted an uprising of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. He developed the idea of communism, that the workers would need to seize the means of production in order to create economic equality. His ideas would be of significant importance in the Russian Revolution.
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Based on his own physical weakness, Nietzsche developed many ideas concerned with the strength of humanity. He was fiercely anti-religious, and he argued for an Ubermensch that would rise up and save humanity, as well for master-slave morality. His thoughts would be retooled for Hitler's Nazism.
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The inventor of the lightbulb in addition to other items, he brought electricity to the world, beating out Tesla and his theories to help further industrialize and change the increasingly modernizing world.
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An Austrian neurologist, he was the founder of psychoanalysis. He developed the model of the psyche consisting of the id, ego, and super ego. He was fascinated by dreams and the repression of the mind.
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Heralded as a genius and one of the greatest physicists of all time, Eintein's explanation of the photoelectric effect and discovery of the theory of relativity led to huge advancements in quantum physics and the development of the Big Bang Theory. His letter to FDR about the potential development of nuclear weapons in Germany led to the Manhattan Project.
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The Turing machine is largely seen as the first basic computer, leading to his being known as the father of artificial intelligence and theoretical computer science. He was also instrumental to the Allies breaking the Enigma code in World War II.