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Period: 700 BCE to 500
Ancient philosophy
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470 BCE
Socrates
Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, he authored no texts, and is known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers composing after his lifetime. Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and in the modern era. -
427 BCE
Plato
Plato was a philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school. He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the history of Ancient Greek and Western philosophy. Throughout his later life, Plato became entangled with the politics of the city of Syracuse. According to Seneca, Plato died at the age of 81 on the same day he was born. The Suda indicates that he lived to 82 years, while Neanthes claims an age of 84. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oJs5u_GAYA -
384 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition. Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Northern Greece. At seventeen or eighteen years of age he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. He died on Euboea of natural causes in the year 322 BC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ -
287 BCE
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. He is considered to be the greatest mathematician and scientist of ancient history, and one of the greatest of all time. He was born in Syracuse, Sicily. The most widely known anecdote about Archimedes tells of how he invented a method for determining the volume of an object with an irregular shape. Archimedes died in the 212 BC during the Second Punic War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHbU9DpRzGk -
121
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good Emperors, and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161. The reign of Marcus Aurelius was marked by military conflict. Marcus died at the age of 58 on 17 March 180 due to natural causes in the city of Vindobona. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNo_cafMjAg -
354
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian, philosopher, and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia. His writings influenced the development of Western philosophy and Western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church. Many Protestants, consider him one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRsjaBTphVM -
Period: 501 to 1501
Medieval philosophy
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1564
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer. Galileo has been called "father of modern physics", "father of the scientific method", and "father of modern science". His formulation of inertia, the law of falling bodies, and parabolic trajectories marked the beginning of change in the study of motion. His discoveries with the telescope revolutionized astronomy. But it all resulted in an Inquisition process against him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5vezYaOpC4 -
René Descartes
René Descartes was a French-born Dutch philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. One of the most notable figures of the Dutch Golden Age, Descartes is also known as one of the founders of modern philosophy. He developed a metaphysical dualism that distinguishes radically between mind and matter. He erected new epistemic foundations on the basis of the intuition that, when he is thinking, he exists; this he expressed as “I think, therefore I am”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8rYEcRypYc -
Period: to
Modern philosophy
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Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author, who is recognised as one of the most influential scientists and as a key figure in the scientific revolution. Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the scientific viewpoint until it was superseded by the theory of relativity. Newton often explained his theory of gravitation with the story of the apple that fell from a tree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yH_LiONXEo -
Montesquieu
Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, and political philosopher. He is the principal source of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions of the world. He is also known for doing more than any other author to secure the word "despotism" in the political lexicon. An example of Montesquieu's anthropological thinking, is his meteorological climate theory. https://study.com/academy/lesson/baron-de-montesquieu-biography-theories-philosophy.html -
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity (especially the Roman Catholic Church) as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. Voltaire had an enormous influence on the development of historiography through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. https://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/about-voltaire/about-voltaire -
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Enlightenment in Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic and educational thought. Rousseau looked to a "state of nature" as a normative guide. His Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81KfDXTTtXE -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species descended over time from common ancestors is considered a key concept in science. He introduced his scientific theory of natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7BMDPZqI6A -
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. Marxism, holds that human societies develop through class conflict. His work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital and subsequent economy. Marx is known as one of the principal architects of modern social science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQgCy_iIcc -
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, and philologist whose work has influenced the modern intellectual history. Some prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favor of perspectivism; critique of religion; the crisis of nihilism. In 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown. Two policemen approached him after he caused a public disturbance in Turin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMFkSM5bHMo -
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. His philosophy is often divided into the Tractatus, and a later period, articulated primarily in the Philosophical Investigations. A survey among American university ranked the Investigations as the most important book of 20th-century philosophy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ33gAyhg2c&vl=es-419
