-
399 BCE
Socrates
He was a classical Greek philosopher credited as on of the founders of Western philosophy. He is enigmatic figure known chiefly though the accounts of classical writers, especially the writing of his students Plato and Xenophon and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes.
Died in 399 BC. -
Thomas Hobbes
He was an English philosopher who is considered one of the founders pf modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, which established the social contract theory that has served as the foundation for most later Western political philosophy.
Died in 1679. -
Rene Descarter
He was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist. Dubbed the father of modern western philosophy, much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day. He spent about 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic.
Died in 1650. -
Benedict Spinoza
He was a Datch philosopher of Sephard origin. By laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern bibical criticism, including modern conceptions of the self and the universe, he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy.
Died in 1677 -
David Hume
He was a Scottish philisopher, historian, economist, and essayist, who is the best known today for his highly influential system of radical philosophical empircism, skepticism and naturalism.
Died in 1776. -
Immanuel Kant
He was a German philosopher who is considered a central figure in modern philosophy. Kant argued that the human mind creates the structure of human experience, that reason is the source of morality, that aesthetics arises from a faculty of disinterested judgment.
Died in 1804.