Famous Philosophers

ANCIENT GREECE
Thales: First known philosopher to seek a unifying underlying natural principle for all reality (water).

Parmenides: First example of using logic to argue that reality was (very) unlike its appearance.

Socrates: Famous for question and answer method, bringing forth hypotheses and producing counterexamples, then modifying hypotheses. Focused on value theory. "Know Thyself."

Plato: Student of Socrates, wrote eloquent dialogues in which Socratesappears. Focused on value theory, nature of ideal state, problem of how reality can be knowable.

Protagoras: Influential relativist; "Man is the measure of all things."

Aristotle: student of Plato. Remarkable for contributions to many areas: logic, math, biology, metaphysics, ethics, political theory, aesthetics (drama), etc. Teacher of Alexander the Great.

EARLY MODERN
Descartes: brought epistemology to the fore. Also famous for his dualism (mind is nonphysical but interacts with physical world); "I think therefore I am," as beginning point for knowledge of reality.

Hobbes: great modern materialist and political theorist (social contract).

Locke: moderate empiricist and political theorist, influenced American "Founding Fathers".

Hume: Radical empiricist, critic of religion; also famous during his lifetime as a historian.

Kant: Famous for his argument that mind shapes reality, and his ethical theory that emphasized reason, duty and rights over desires (major rival to Utilitarianism). Also famous for his jargon, formidable writing style.

Hegel: German system builder, emphasized historical development of thought.

Marx: great German revolutionary materialist , critic of Capitalism.

Mill: English genius who wrote about logic, language and math, political theory, science, ethics . Known for development of Utilitarian theory in ethics and his arguments on behalf of freedom of press/speech.

Nietszche: famous relativist, critic of Christian ethics.

William James: great American psychologist and philosopher, proponent of pragmatism and concept analysis.

TWENTIETH CENTURY
Russell: worked in all areas of philosophy. Famous for emphasizing analysis; influential critic of Hegelian philosophy, important philosopher of logic and mathematics. Political activist. Prolific writer.

Wittgenstein: brilliant student of Russell, focussed on language and knowledge (also aeronautical engineer and amateur architect)

Carnap: influential scientific empiricist. Emigrated from Austria to U.S.

Sartre: French Existentialist, novelist, became a Marxist

Quine: influential Harvard empiricist, logician, behaviorist and pragmatist. Polished writer.

CURRENTLY FAMOUS
Jacques Derrida: French!

Jerry Fodor (CUNY, Rutgers): focusses on philosophy of language; famous for his Language of Thought theory. Entertaining writing style.

Hilary Putnam (Harvard): contributions to many areas, especially influential in philosophy of language and mind.

Saul Kripke (Princeton): has focussed on philosophy of language and modal logic. Very clear writer.

John Searle (Berkeley): works in philosophy of language and mind; critic of French "deconstructionism" and of artificial intelligence. Also very clear writer.

John Rawls (Harvard): political philosophy, grand synthesis of Contract theory and Kantian considerations.

Robert Nozick (Harvard): contributions to many areas; most famous as Libertarian theorist.