This is a list of philosophers from the Western tradition of philosophy.
Western philosophers
Ancient Greece
600âÂÂ500 BC
- Thales of Miletus (c. 624 â 546 BC). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water.
- Pherecydes of Syros (c. 620 â c. 550 BC). Cosmologist.
- Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 â 546 BC). Of the Milesian school. Famous for the concept of Apeiron, or "the boundless".
- Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585 â 525 BC). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of air.
- Pythagoras of Samos (c. 580 â c. 500 BC). Of the Ionian School. Believed the deepest reality to be composed of numbers, and that souls are immortal.
- Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570 â 480 BC). Advocated monotheism. Sometimes associated with the Eleatic school.
- Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 â c. 475 BC). Of the Ionians. Emphasized the mutability of the universe.
- Epicharmus of Kos (c. 530 â 450 BC). Comic playwright and moralist.
- Parmenides of Elea (c. 515 â 450 BC). Of the Eleatics. Reflected on the concept of Being.
- Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c. 500 â 428 BC). Of the Ionians. Pluralist.
400 BC
Hellenistic era
300âÂÂ200 BC
Classical Rome
100 BCâÂÂ100 AD
100âÂÂ400
Middle Ages
500âÂÂ900
1000âÂÂ1100
1200âÂÂ1300
1400
Early modern period
1500
1600
1700
- Jonathan Edwards (1703âÂÂ1758). American philosophical theologian.
- David Hartley (1705âÂÂ1757).
- Julien La Mettrie (1709âÂÂ1751). Materialist, genetic determinist.
- Thomas Reid (1710âÂÂ1796). Member of Scottish Enlightenment, founder of Scottish Common Sense philosophy.
- David Hume (1711âÂÂ1776). Empiricist, skeptic.
- JeanâÂÂJacques Rousseau (1712âÂÂ1778). Social contract political philosopher.
- Denis Diderot (1713âÂÂ1784).
- Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714âÂÂ1762).
- Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715âÂÂ1771). Utilitarian.
- Etienne de Condillac (1715âÂÂ1780).
- Jean d'Alembert (1717âÂÂ1783).
- Baron d'Holbach (1723âÂÂ1789). Materialist, atheist.
- Adam Smith (1723âÂÂ1790). Economic theorist, member of Scottish Enlightenment.
- Immanuel Kant (1724âÂÂ1804). Major contributions in nearly every field of philosophy, especially metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics.
- Moses Mendelssohn (1729âÂÂ1786). Member of the Jewish Enlightenment.
- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729âÂÂ1781).
- Edmund Burke (1729âÂÂ1797). Conservative political philosopher.
- Johann Georg Hamann (1730âÂÂ1788).
- Thomas Paine (1737âÂÂ1809).
- Cesare Beccaria (1738âÂÂ1794). Italian criminologist, jurist, and philosopher from the Age of Enlightenment.
- Thomas Jefferson (1743âÂÂ1826). Liberal political philosopher.
- Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743âÂÂ1819).
- Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744âÂÂ1803).
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744âÂÂ1829). Early evolutionary theorist.
- Jeremy Bentham (1748âÂÂ1832). Utilitarian, hedonist.
- Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749âÂÂ1827). Determinist.
- Joseph de Maistre (1753âÂÂ1821) Conservative
- Louis de Bonald (1754 â 1840).
- William Godwin (1756âÂÂ1836). Anarchist, utilitarian.
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759âÂÂ1797). Feminist.
- Friedrich Schiller (1759âÂÂ1805).
- Comte de Saint-Simon (1760âÂÂ1825). Socialist.
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762âÂÂ1814).
- Madame de Staël (1766âÂÂ1817).
- Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768âÂÂ1834). Hermeneutician.
- Friedrich Hölderlin (1770âÂÂ1843). Poet and philosopher.
- G. W. F. Hegel (1770âÂÂ1831). German idealist.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 â 1834).
- James Mill (1773âÂÂ1836). Utilitarian.
- F. W. J. von Schelling (1775âÂÂ1854). German idealist.
- Bernard Bolzano (1781âÂÂ1848).
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788âÂÂ1860). Pessimism, Critic, Absurdist.
- Thomas Carlyle (1795 â 1881).
- Sojourner Truth (c. 1797âÂÂ1883). Egalitarian, abolitionist.
- Auguste Comte (1798âÂÂ1857). Social philosopher, positivist.
Modern philosophers
1800âÂÂ1850
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803âÂÂ1882). Transcendentalist, abolitionist, egalitarian, humanist.
- Ludwig Feuerbach (1804âÂÂ1872).
- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805âÂÂ1859).
- Max Stirner (1806âÂÂ1856). Anarchist.
- Augustus De Morgan (1806âÂÂ1871). Logician.
- John Stuart Mill (1806âÂÂ1873). Utilitarian.
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809âÂÂ1865). Anarchist.
- Harriet Taylor Mill (1807âÂÂ1858). Egalitarian, utilitarian.
- Charles Darwin (1809âÂÂ1882). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
- Margaret Fuller (1810âÂÂ1850). Egalitarian.
- Søren Kierkegaard (1813âÂÂ1855). Existentialist.
- Mikhail Bakunin (1814âÂÂ1876). Revolutionary anarchist.
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815âÂÂ1902). Egalitarian.
- Henry David Thoreau (1817âÂÂ1862). Transcendentalist, pacifist, abolitionist.
- Karl Marx (1818âÂÂ1883). Socialist, formulated historical materialism.
- Friedrich Engels (1820âÂÂ1895). Egalitarian, dialectical materialist.
- Herbert Spencer (1820âÂÂ1903). Nativism, libertarianism, social Darwinism.
- Susan B. Anthony (1820âÂÂ1906). Feminist.
- Ernest Renan (1823 â 1892).
- Hippolyte Taine (1828 â 1893).
- Wilhelm Dilthey (1833âÂÂ1911).
- T.H. Green (1836âÂÂ1882). British idealist.
- Henry Sidgwick (1838âÂÂ1900). Rationalism, utilitarianism.
- Ernst Mach (1838âÂÂ1916). Philosopher of science, influence on logical positivism.
- Franz Brentano (1838âÂÂ1917). Phenomenologist.
- Charles Sanders Peirce (1839âÂÂ1914). Pragmatist.
- Philipp Mainländer (1841 â 1876). Pessimist.
- William James (1842âÂÂ1910). Pragmatism, Radical empiricism.
- Hermann Cohen (1842-1918). Neo-Kantianism, Jewish philosophy.
- Peter Kropotkin (1842âÂÂ1921). Anarchist communism.
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844âÂÂ1900). Naturalistic philosopher, influence on Existentialism.
- W. K. Clifford (1845âÂÂ1879). Evidentialist.
- F. H. Bradley (1846âÂÂ1924). Idealist.
- Vilfredo Pareto (1848âÂÂ1923). Social philosopher.
- Gottlob Frege (1848âÂÂ1925). Influential analytic philosopher.
1850âÂÂ1900
- Henri Poincaré (1854âÂÂ1912).
- Josiah Royce (1855âÂÂ1916). Idealist.
- Sigmund Freud (1856âÂÂ1939). Neurologist, founded psychoanalysis, posited structural model of mind.
- Georgi Plekhanov (1856-1918). Marxist, established Marxism in Russia.
- Ferdinand de Saussure (1857âÂÂ1913). Linguist, Semiotics, Structuralism.
- ÃÂmile Durkheim (1858âÂÂ1917). Social philosopher.
- Giuseppe Peano (1858âÂÂ1932).
- Edmund Husserl (1859âÂÂ1938). Founder of phenomenology.
- Henri Bergson (1859âÂÂ1941). Vitalism.
- John Dewey (1859âÂÂ1952). Pragmatism.
- Jane Addams (1860âÂÂ1935). Pragmatist.
- Pierre Duhem (1861âÂÂ1916).
- Rudolf Steiner (1861âÂÂ1925). Anthroposophy
- Alfred North Whitehead (1861âÂÂ1947). Process Philosophy, Mathematician, Logician, Philosophy of Physics, Panpsychism.
- George Herbert Mead (1863âÂÂ1931). Pragmatism, symbolic interactionist.
- George Santayana (1863âÂÂ1952). Pragmatism, naturalism; known for many aphorisms.
- Max Weber (1864âÂÂ1920). Social philosopher.
- Miguel de Unamuno (1864âÂÂ1936). Existentialist.
- Benedetto Croce (1866âÂÂ1952).
- Lev Shestov (1868âÂÂ1938).
- Emma Goldman (1869âÂÂ1940). Anarchist.
- Rosa Luxemburg (1870âÂÂ1919). Marxist political philosopher.
- Bertrand Russell (1872âÂÂ1970). Analytic philosopher, nontheist, influential.
- G. E. Moore (1873âÂÂ1958). Common sense theorist, ethical nonâÂÂnaturalist.
- Nikolai Berdyaev (1874âÂÂ1948). Existentialist.
- Ernst Cassirer (1874âÂÂ1945). Neo-Kantianism.
- Max Scheler (1874âÂÂ1928). German phenomenologist.
- Carl Jung (1875âÂÂ1961). Psychoanalyst, metaphysicist.
- Giovanni Gentile (1875âÂÂ1944). Idealist and fascist philosopher.
- Martin Buber (1878âÂÂ1965). Jewish philosopher, existentialist.
- Jan Ã
Âukasiewicz (1878-1956). Logician.
- Oswald Spengler (1880 â 1936).
- Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973).
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881âÂÂ1955). Christian evolutionist.
- Hans Kelsen (1881âÂÂ1973). Legal positivist.
- Moritz Schlick (1882âÂÂ1936). Founder of Vienna Circle, logical positivism.
- Otto Neurath (1882âÂÂ1945). Member of Vienna Circle.
- Nicolai Hartmann (1882âÂÂ1950).
- Jacques Maritain (1882âÂÂ1973). Human rights theorist.
- José Ortega y Gasset (1883âÂÂ1955). Philosopher of History.
- Karl Jaspers (1883âÂÂ1969). Existentialist.
- Gaston Bachelard (1884âÂÂ1962).
- Otto Rank (1884âÂÂ1939).
- Georg Lukács (1885âÂÂ1971). Marxist philosopher.
- Karl Barth (1886âÂÂ1968).
- René Guénon (1886 â 1951).
- Carl Schmitt (1888 â 1985).
- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889âÂÂ1951). Analytic philosopher, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, influential.
- Gabriel Marcel (1889âÂÂ1973). Christian existentialist.
- Martin Heidegger (1889âÂÂ1976). Phenomenologist.
- Antonio Gramsci (1891âÂÂ1937). Marxist philosopher.
- Rudolf Carnap (1891âÂÂ1970). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
- Walter Benjamin (1892âÂÂ1940). Marxist. Philosophy of language.
- Herman Dooyeweerd (1894âÂÂ1977). Philosophy of the Law Idea.
- Max Horkheimer (1895-1973). Frankfurt School.
- Ernst Jünger (1895 â 1998).
- Susanne Langer (1895âÂÂ1985).
- Georges Bataille (1897âÂÂ1962).
- Julius Evola (1898 â 1974).
- Herbert Marcuse (1898âÂÂ1979). Frankfurt School.
- C. S. Lewis (1898 â 1963).
- Friedrich Hayek (1899 â 1992).
- Leo Strauss (1899âÂÂ1973). Political Philosopher.
1900âÂÂ1950
- Gilbert Ryle (1900âÂÂ1976).
- Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900âÂÂ2002). Hermeneutics.
- Jacques Lacan (1901âÂÂ1981). Structuralism.
- Henri Lefebvre (1901âÂÂ1991). Marxist philosopher
- Alfred Tarski (1901âÂÂ1983). Created TâÂÂConvention in semantics.
- Michael Oakeshott (1901âÂÂ1990).
- Karl Popper (1902âÂÂ1994). Philosopher of Science.
- Mortimer Adler (1902âÂÂ2001).
- Eric Hoffer (1902âÂÂ1983)
- Frank P. Ramsey (1903âÂÂ1930). Proposed redundancy theory of truth.
- Theodor Adorno (1903âÂÂ1969). Frankfurt School.
- Joseph Campbell (1904âÂÂ1987) comparative mythology and comparative religion
- MarÃÂa Zambrano (1904âÂÂ1991)
- Raymond Aron (1905âÂÂ1983).
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905âÂÂ1980). Humanism, existentialism.
- Ayn Rand (1905âÂÂ1982). Objectivist, Individualist.
- Kurt Gödel (1906âÂÂ1978). Vienna Circle.
- Emmanuel Levinas (1906âÂÂ1995).
- Hannah Arendt (1906âÂÂ1975). Political Philosophy.
- H.L.A. Hart (1907âÂÂ1992). Legal positivism.
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908âÂÂ1961). Influential French phenomenologist.
- Simone de Beauvoir (1908âÂÂ1986). Existentialist, feminist.
- Willard van Orman Quine (1908âÂÂ2000).
- Isaiah Berlin (1909âÂÂ1997), historian of ideas.
- Simone Weil (1909âÂÂ1943).
- A. J. Ayer (1910âÂÂ1989). Logical positivist, emotivist.
- J. L. Austin (1911âÂÂ1960).
- Marshall McLuhan (1911âÂÂ1980). Media theory.
- Alan Turing (1912âÂÂ1954). Functionalist in philosophy of mind.
- Wilfrid Sellars (1912âÂÂ1989). Influential American philosopher
- Albert Camus (1913âÂÂ1960). Absurdist.
- Paul RicÃ
Âur (1913âÂÂ2005). French philosopher and theologian.
- Roland Barthes (1915âÂÂ1980). French semiotician and literary theorist.
- Donald Davidson (1917âÂÂ2003). Coherentist philosophy of mind.
- Louis Althusser (1918âÂÂ1990). Structural Marxist.
- Russell Kirk (1918âÂÂ1994).
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918âÂÂ2008).
- M. Bunge (1919âÂÂ2020).
- P. F. Strawson (1919âÂÂ2006). Ordinary language philosophy.
- John Rawls (1921âÂÂ2002). Liberal.
- Paulo Freire (1921âÂÂ1997). Pedagogy.
- Thomas Kuhn (1922âÂÂ1996). Author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
- Norwood Russell Hanson (1924âÂÂ1967).
- Zygmunt Bauman (1925âÂÂ2017). Polish sociologist and philosopher, who introduced the idea of liquid modernity.
- Frantz Fanon (1925âÂÂ1961). Postcolonialism
- Gilles Deleuze (1925âÂÂ1995). Post-structuralism
- Michel Foucault (1926âÂÂ1984). Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism, and the concept of biopolitics.
- Hilary Putnam (1926âÂÂ2016). Neopragmatism.
- Noam Chomsky (born 1928). Linguist.
- Robert M. Pirsig (1928âÂÂ2017). Introduced the Methaphysics of Quality. MOQ incorporates facets of East Asian philosophy, pragmatism and the work of F. S. C. Northrop.
- Bernard Williams (1929âÂÂ2003). Moral philosopher.
- Jean Baudrillard (1929âÂÂ2007). Postmodernism, Post-structuralism.
- Jürgen Habermas (1929âÂÂ2026). Discourse ethics.
- Jaakko Hintikka (1929âÂÂ2015).
- Alasdair MacIntyre (1929âÂÂ2025). Aristotelian.
- Hubert Lederer Dreyfus (1929âÂÂ2017)
- Allan Bloom (1930âÂÂ1992). Political Philosopher.
- Pierre Bourdieu (1930âÂÂ2002). French psychoanalytic sociologist and philosopher.
- Jacques Derrida (1930âÂÂ2004). Deconstruction.
- Thomas Sowell (born 1930). Political Philosopher, capitalist.
- Guy Debord (1931âÂÂ1994). French Marxist philosopher.
- Richard Rorty (1931âÂÂ2007). Pragmatism, Postanalytic philosophy.
- Charles Taylor (born 1931). Political philosophy, Philosophy of Social Science, and Intellectual History.
- Umberto Eco (1932âÂÂ2016). Semiotics, Aesthetics
- John Searle (born 1932). Direct realism.
- Alvin Plantinga (born 1932). Reformed epistemology, Philosophy of Religion.
- Jerry Fodor (1935âÂÂ2017).
- Alain Badiou (born 1937).
- Thomas Nagel (born 1937). Qualia theory.
- Robert Nozick (1938âÂÂ2002). Libertarian.
- Tom Regan (1938âÂÂ2017). Animal rights philosopher.
- Saul Kripke (1940âÂÂ2022). Modal semantics.
- Jean-Luc Nancy (1940âÂÂ2021) French philosopher.
- David K. Lewis (1941âÂÂ2001). Modal realism.
- Gerald Allan Cohen (1941âÂÂ2008) Analytical Marxism.
- Derek Parfit (1942âÂÂ2017).
- Giorgio Agamben (born 1942). State of exception, formâÂÂofâÂÂlife, and Homo sacer.
- Daniel Dennett (born 1942âÂÂ2024).
- Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 1942). Postcolonialism, Feminism, Literary theory.
- Roger Scruton (1944âÂÂ2020). Traditionalist conservatism.
- Simon Blackburn (1944). Analytic philosophy.
- Peter Singer (born 1946) Moral philosopher on animal liberation, effective altruism.
- Bruno Latour (1947âÂÂ2022) French Philosopher, anthropologist, sociologist.
- Camille Paglia (born 1947).
- Martha Nussbaum (born 1947). Political philosopher.
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born 1949).
- Slavoj Ã
½iÃ
¾ek (born 1949). German Idealism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis.
- Ken Wilber (born 1949). Integral Theory.
1950âÂÂ2000
See also
References
External links