Empedocles (493-433 BC), Presocratic philosopher and cosmologist.
Zeno of Elea (fl. 5th cent. BC), Eleatic philosopher famous for his
paradoxes of motion.
Leucippus (fl. 5th cent. BC), Presocratic philosopher, founder of atomism.
Protagoras (485-415 BC), Sophist famous for his relativism.
Hippias (485-415 BC), Sophist.
Gorgias (483-376 BC), Sophist and teacher of rhetoric.
Antiphon (480-411 BC), Orator and Sophist (if these two are in fact the
same person), fragments of whose treatise On Truth were discovered at
Oxyrhynchus.
Aspasia (fl. 5th cent. BC), female philosopher and rhetorician, companion
of Socrates.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Athenian philosopher, put to death on charges of
corrupting the youth.
Prodicus (fl. 5th cent. BC), Sophist contemporary with Socrates.
Democritus (460-370 BC), famous atomic philosopher.
Euclid of Megara (450-380 BC), associate of Socrates and founder of the
Megarian school.
Antisthenes (445-360 BC), companion of Socrates, often associated with
the later Cynic movement.
Aristippus (435-356 BC), companion of Socrates, traditionally the founder
of the Cyrenaic school devoted to hedonism.
Plato (429-347 BC), younger associate of Socrates, founder of the Academy,
teacher of Aristotle.
Xenophon (427-355 BC), historian and philosophical author, famous for his
accounts of Socrates.
Speusippus (407-339 BC), pupil of Plato who succeeded him as second head
of the Academy.
Diogenes of Sinope (400-325 BC), Cynic philosopher.
Xenocrates (396-314 BC), follower of Plato and third head of the Academy.
Aristotle (384-322 BC), pupil of Plato, founder of the Lyceum and the
Peripatetic tradition.
Arete of Cyrene (fl. 4th cent. BC), daughter of Aristippus and his
successor as head of the Cyrenaic school.
Stilpo (380-300 BC), Megarian philosopher, influenced by Cynicism and
an influence on Stoicism.
Theophrastus (370-288 BC), pupil of Aristotle and his successor as
head of the Lyceum.
Pyrrho (365-275 BC), founder of the sceptical philosophy named after
him.
Epicurus (341-270 BC), atomist and hedonist philosopher, founder of school
named after him.
Zeno of Citium (335-263 BC), founder of the Stoic school.
Cleanthes (331-232 BC), second head of the Stoic school.
Aristo (fl. 3rd cent. BC), Stoic philosopher, a pupil of Zeno, focused
primarily on ethics.
Timon (320-230 BC), sceptical philosopher, pupil of Pyrrho.
Arcesilaus (316-242 BC), head of Plato's Academy, perhaps responsible for
its turn towards scepticism.
Menippus (fl. 250 BC), Cynic philosopher and famous as a satirist.
Chrysippus (280-207 BC), third]] (and probably most important) head of the
Stoic school.
Diogenes of Babylon (240-152 BC), Stoic philosopher, member of the famous
embassy of philosophers to Rome.
Carneades (214-129 BC), head of the Academy and founder of the 'New
Academy', member of the famous embassy of philosophers to Rome.
Panaetius (185-109 BC), Stoic philosopher with eclectic tendencies, pupil
of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater, influence upon Cicero.
Philo of Larissa (160-80 BC), head of the Academy, teacher of Cicero.
Zeno of Sidon (150-70 BC), Epicurean philosopher.
Posidonius (135-51 BC), Stoic philosopher and historian, often characterised
as an eclectic representative of the 'Middle Stoa'.
Antiochus of Ascalon (130-68 BC), pupil of Philo of Larissa, head of the
Academy turning it away from the scepticism of the 'New Academy' and back to
the 'Old Academy'. An important influence upon Cicero.
Philodemus (110-40 BC), Epicurean philosopher, many of whose works were
buried at Herculaneum.
Cicero (106-43 BC), Roman philosophical author.
Aenesidemus (fl. 1st cent. BC), sceptical philosopher who attempted to
revive Pyrrhonism.
Lucretius (94-55 BC), Epicurean philosopher-poet.
Philo of Alexandria (30 BC - 45 AD), Jewish Hellenistic philosopher and
prolific author based in Alexandria.
Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), Latin Stoic author, onetime tutor to the Emperor
Nero.
Plutarch (45-120 AD), biographer and author of an important collection
of philosophical essays, the Moralia.
Epictetus (55-135 AD), Stoic philosopher, pupil of Musonius Rufus and
founder of a school in Nicopolis.
Demonax (fl. 2nd cent. AD), Cynic philosopher, pupil of Epictetus.
Diogenes of Oenoanda (fl. 2nd cent. AD), author of Epicurean inscription
at Oenoanda.
Alcinous (fl. 2nd cent. AD), Platonist and author of the Handbook of
Platonism.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher.
Galen of Pergamum (129-199 AD), philosopher-doctor influenced by Platonism,
physician to Marcus Aurelius, and prolific author.
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), Christian Church Father heavily
influenced by Greek philosophy.
Sextus Empiricus (fl. 200 AD), sceptical philosopher and author.
Alexander of Aphrodisias (fl. 200 AD), Aristotelian commentator.
Julia Domna (170-217 AD), female philosopher and wife of the Emperor
Septimius Severus, included Galen and Philostratus in her philosophical
circle.
Diogenes Laertius (fl. 3rd cent. AD), famous biographer of ancient
philosophers.
Plotinus (205-270 AD), Platonic philosopher and founder of Neoplatonism.
Porphyry (233-309 AD), Neoplatonist, pupil and biographer of Plotinus.
Iamblichus (242-327 AD), important Neoplatonic philosopher.
Calcidius (fl. 4th cent. AD), Platonist and author of an important
Latin translation and commentary on the Timaeus.
Themistius (317-388 AD), Aristotelian commentator based in Constantinople.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), Christian philosopher and Church
father, influenced by Neoplatonism.
Hypatia (370-415 AD), famous female Neoplatonist based Alexandria
and murdered by a Christian mob.
Proclus (411-485 AD), Athenian Neoplatonist and head of the Academy.
Ammonius (440-521 AD), Alexandrian Neoplatonist, a pupil of Proclus
and teacher of Damascius and Simplicius.
Damascius (462-540 AD), Neoplatonist and head of the Athenian school.
Boethius (475-524 AD), Latin Neoplatonist and translator of Aristotle.
Simplicius (490-560 AD), Aristotelian commentator, pupil of Damascius.
John Philoponus (490-570 AD), Christian Aristotelian commentator based
in Alexandria, pupil of Ammonius.
John Scotus Erigena (810-877 AD) Also called "John the Scot".
Anselm (11th century) Posed the ontological argument for the existence
of God.
Pierre Abélard (1079-1142 AD) Aristotelian (nominalist) lived a great
love story similar to Romeo and Juliet.
Roger Bacon (1220-1292 AD) He believed there could and should be a
unified science based on observation, experiment and abstract reasoning.
Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274 AD) Tried to merge the already Platonized
Christianity with the philosophy of Aristotle maintaining a distinction
between philosophy and religion.
William of Ockham (1285-1347 AD) Observation nature and reason can
only provide us with reliable knowledge about the world, famous for his
principle of accepting the simplest of alternatives as the best one
(Ockham's Razor).
Copernicus (1473-1543 AD) Polish churchman who hypothesized that many
mathematical difficulties of the time would disappear if we assumed sun
was at the center of our planetary system instead of earth (and flatly
contradicting the Bible).
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527 AD) Studied politics and government in
an objective (scientific) manner.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601 AD) Astronomer with vast body of measured
astronomical observations passed on the Johannes Kepler.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626 AD) Believed that scientific knowledge could
give power of man over nature. He also believed the idea that definitions
advance knowledge was an illusion (Aristotle's idea?).
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642 AD) Believed to be founding father of modern
science with study of projectiles, pendulum, gravity. Discovered the
thermometer. Asserted that earth revolves around its axis.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630 AD) Studied theology but he showed that
planets move in elliptical motion around the sun (not circular as
previously thought by Copernicus).
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679 AD) Believed that only matter existed,
everything could be explained in terms of matter in motion. The whole
universe he considered a giant machine. In politics he claimed its the
fear of death that forces humans to form societies, and proposed that
everyone should agree to hand power to a central authority whose job is
to impose law and punish lawbreakers (police state).
Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655 AD) An advocate of the experimental approach
to science.
René Descartes (1596-1650 AD) Invented analytic geometry, the graph,
looked at humans contradicted themselves and wondered whether there was
something that we could know for certain. Famous for his "I think therefore
I am".
John Locke (1632-1704 AD) Secularized the notion that there are limits to
what humans can apprehend by arguing (in his "Essays concerning Human
Understanding") that if we could anylize our own mental faculties and find
out what we are capable of and what not we should have discovered the limits
of what is knowable by us. He never married.
Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677 AD) He believed that our physical body and the
soul is one entity. He believed that for the most part we are not aware of
the real causes of our actions. Being deprived of freedom of speech himself
he was from the first to proclaim its importance.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727 AD) Accurately analyzed the constituents of light,
invented calculus, formulated the gravitational theory, and provided us with
accurate account of movements of planets through space.
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716 AD) Invented calculus independently of Newton,
was offered professorship at 21 which he turned down. Claimed that truths
belong in two categories the ones that can be verified with just examining
them with logical statements and the ones that need further observation and
application of logic.
George Berkeley (1685-1753 AD) A consistent empiricist, believed what exists
is our minds and their contents, subjects and their experiences.
Voltaire (1694-1778 AD) Crusader against tyranny, bigotry and cruelty. He
subscribed to Locke's idea that the confidence we have in our beliefs needs
to relate to the evidence in their support.
David Hume (1711-1776 AD) Believed that humans are a bundle of sensations.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778 AD) He received very little formal
education and had espoused to spontaneous feeling against conceptual thinking.
He pronounced that civilization was not a good thing as everyone had always
assumed.
Denis Diderot (1713-1784 AD) As author and editor of the Encyclopédie he
admitted that his aim was to change the common way of thinking.
Adam Smith (1723-1790 AD) Economist and philosopher.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797 AD) His conservatism can be summarized in his belief
that the wisdom and experience of many generations it is likely to be a more
reliable guide to action than any one person's opinion.
BibliographyIntroductions and anthologies
* Classics of Western Philosophy by Steven M. Cahn Available from Amazon.com
* Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida (4th Edition) by Forrest E. Baird Available from Amazon.com
* The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant Available from Amazon.com
* From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest by T. Z. Lavine Available from Amazon.com
* Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers by S. E. Frost Available from Amazon.com
* The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Available from Amazon.com
* The Great Philosophers (4 vols.) by Karl Jaspers Available from Amazon.com
* A History of Philosophy in the Twentieth Century by Christian Delacampagne Available from Amazon.comReference
* A History of Western Philosophy (5 vols.) by W. T. Jones Available from Amazon.com
* History of Philosophy (9 vols.) by Frederick Copleston Available from Amazon.com
* History of Philosophy Quarterly (magazine) Available from Amazon.com
