The 100 Most Influential Philosophers of All Time (The Britannica Guide to the World's Most Influential People)

The minds amazing ability of cogitation is encapsulated in the works of our great philosophers. Their ideas, such as I think, therefore I am, have become lasting certitudes, which have influenced important areas of life including art, education, politics, and government. Leading philosophers conduct a rational investigation of Truth to arrive at a set of principles that others believe and adopt. This compendium of the worlds greatest thinkers includes the likes of Confucius, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Hannah Arendt, and Ren Descartes. TITLE 3 COPYRIGHT 4 CONTENTS 5 INTRODUCTION 8 PYTHAGORAS 17 CONFUCIUS 19 THE ANALECTS 21 HERACLEITUS 25 PARMENIDES 26 ZENO OF ELEA 27 SOCRATES 28 LIFE AND PERSONALITY 29 SOCRATES IN THE DIALOGUES OF PLATO 31 PLATO'S APOLOGY 33 DEMOCRITUS 35 PLATO 37 HAPPINESS AND VIRTUE 39 THE REPUBLIC 41 THE THEORY OF FORMS 43 FORMS AS PERFECT EXEMPLARS 43 FORMS AS GENERA AND SPECIES 45 ARISTOTLE 47 DOCTRINES 48 PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS 50 FORMS 50 CAUSATION 51 ETHICS 52 ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION 53 MENCIUS 54 DOCTRINE OF HUMAN NATURE 54 ZHUANGZI 55 PHILOSOPHY 56 PYRRHON OF ELIS 57 EPICURUS 57 THE SCHOOLS AT ATHENS AND ELSEWHERE 59 ZENO OF CITIUM 60 ZENO'S PHILOSOPHY 61 PHILO JUDAEUS 62 EPICTETUS 65 MARCUS AURELIUS 66 MARCUS AS ROMAN EMPEROR 66 THE MEDITATIONS 67 NAGARJUNA 69 PHILOSOPHY 69 PLOTINUS 71 SEXTUS EMPIRICUS 72 SAINT AUGUSTINE 74 LIFE 74 CONFESSIONS 75 CITY OF GOD 77 HYPATIA 79 ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS BOETHIUS 80 SANKARA 83 YAQUB IBN ISHAQ AS-SABAHAL-KINDI 85 AL-FARABI 86 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION 87 THE ANALOGY OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY 88 AVICENNA 89 THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION 90 THE IMMORTALITY OF INDIVIDUAL SOULS 91 RAMANUJA 92 PHILOSOPHY AND INFLUENCE 93 IBN GABIROL 95 PHILOSOPHY 95 SAINT ANSELM OF CANTERBURY 96 AL-GHAZALI 98 PETER ABELARD 100 CAREER AS A MONK 101 FINAL YEARS 103 AVERROËS 103 AVERROËS' DEFENSE OF PHILOSOPHY 104 ZHU XI 105 MOSES MAIMONIDES 108 LIFE 108 WORKS 111 IBN AL-ARABI 112 SHINRAN 114 SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS 117 EARLY YEARS 117 STUDIES IN PARIS 119 LATER YEARS 120 JOHN DUNS SCOTUS 122 YEARS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PARIS 123 FINAL PERIOD AT COLOGNE 124 WILLIAM OF OCKHAM 125 EARLY LIFE 125 TREATISE TO JOHN XXII 127 NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI 128 THE PRINCE 130 WANG YANGMING 133 FRANCIS BACON, VISCOUNT SAINT ALBAN (OR ALBANS), BARON OF VERULAM 134 THE IDOLS OF THE MIND 135 THE NEW METHOD 138 THOMAS HOBBES 139 INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 140 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 141 RETURN TO ENGLAND 142 RENÉ DESCARTES 143 EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION 144 RESIDENCE IN THE NETHERLANDS 145 MEDITATIONS 146 FINAL YEARS 150 JOHN LOCKE 150 OXFORD 151 EXILE IN FRANCE 153 TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT 154 ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT 156 AN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING 157 KNOWLEDGE 158 LAST YEARS 159 BENEDICT DE SPINOZA 160 RIJNSBURG AND THE HAGUE 161 TRACTATUS THEOLOGICO-POLITICUS 162 THE PERIOD OF THE ETHICS 163 GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ 165 GIAMBATTISTA VICO 168 VICO'S VISION 170 GEORGE BERKELEY 171 PERIOD OF HIS MAJOR WORKS 173 YEARS AS BISHOP OF CLOYNE 174 CHARLES-LOUIS DE SECONDAT, BARON DE LA BRÈDE ET DE MONTESQUIEU 175 MAJOR WORKS 177 DAVID HUME 179 MATURE WORKS 180 JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU 182 MAJOR WORKS OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 184 YEARS OF SECLUSION AND EXILE 187 IMMANUEL KANT 188 THE CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON 190 THE CRITIQUE OF PRACTICAL REASON 192 THE CRITIQUE OF JUDGMENT 193 LAST YEARS 194 MOSES MENDELSSOHN 194 MARIE-JEAN-ANTOINE-NICOLAS DE CARITAT, MARQUIS DE CONDORCET 197 JEREMY BENTHAM 199 GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL 200 EMANCIPATION FROM KANTIANISM 201 CAREER AS LECTURER AT JENA 203 UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR 204 INFLUENCE 206 ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER 206 AUGUSTE COMTE 209 JOHN STUART MILL 211 SØREN KIERKEGAARD 214 A LIFE OF CONFLICTS 215 STAGES ON LIFE'S WAY 216 LATER YEARS 217 KARL MARX 218 BRUSSELS PERIOD 220 EARLY YEARS IN LONDON 221 ROLE IN THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL 222 LAST YEARS 223 HERBERT SPENCER 223 THE SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY IN OUTLINE 225 WILHELM DILTHEY 226 WILLIAM JAMES 227 FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE 230 THE EARLY YEARS 230 THE BASEL YEARS 231 NIETZSCHE'S MATURE PHILOSOPHY 232 ISOLATION, COLLAPSE, AND MISUSE 235 FRIEDRICH LUDWIG GOTTLOB FREGE 236 SYSTEM OF MATHEMATICAL LOGIC 237 CONTRADICTIONS IN FREGE'S SYSTEM 237 EDMUND HUSSERL 238 LECTURER AT HALLE 238 PHENOMENOLOGY AS THE UNIVERSAL SCIENCE 239 THE RENEWAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 240 LATER YEARS 241 HENRI BERGSON 241 PHILOSOPHICAL TRIUMPHS 242 LATER YEARS 243 JOHN DEWEY 244 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT 244 CAREER AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 246 ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD 247 CAREER IN LONDON 248 CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES 249 BENEDETTO CROCE 250 FOUNDING OF LA CRITICA 250 STRUGGLE WITH FASCISM 251 NISHIDA KITARO 252 BERTRAND RUSSELL 254 ANALYSIS AND LOGICISM 255 RUSSELL'S PARADOX 256 THEORY OF DESCRIPTIONS AND LATER DOCTRINES 259 A TURBULENT LIFE 260 RETURN TO ACADEMIA 262 G.E. MOORE 263 MARTIN BUBER 264 FROM VIENNA TO JERUSALEM 264 FROM MYSTICISM TO DIALOGUE 266 FINAL YEARS 268 LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN 269 THE TRACTATUS LOGICO-PHILOSOPHICUS 270 A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF PHILOSOPHY 272 LAST YEARS 274 MARTIN HEIDEGGER 275 BACKGROUND AND YOUTH 275 PHILOSOPHY 276 HEIDEGGER AND NAZISM 278 RUDOLF CARNAP 279 LOGICAL EMPIRICISM 280 WORKS ON EMPIRICISM 281 CAREER IN THE UNITED STATES 283 SIR KARL POPPER 285 THEODOR WIESENGRUND ADORNO 286 JEAN-PAUL SARTRE 287 EARLY LIFE AND WRITINGS 288 POST-WORLD WAR II WORK 289 POLITICAL ACTIVITIES 290 LAST YEARS 291 HANNAH ARENDT 292 SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR 295 WILLARD VAN ORMAN QUINE 297 SIR A.J. AYER 299 LANGUAGE, TRUTH, AND LOGIC 299 THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE 301 LATER YEARS 302 WILFRID SELLARS 303 JOHN RAWLS 305 THOMAS S. KUHN 308 MICHEL FOUCAULT 309 FOUCAULT'S IDEAS 311 NOAM CHOMSKY 314 JÜRGEN HABERMAS 317 PHILOSOPHY AND SOCIAL THEORY 318 SIR BERNARD WILLIAMS 320 PHILOSOPHY AS A HUMANISTIC DISCIPLINE 321 THE ABSOLUTE CONCEPTION OF REALITY 323 MORALITY AND THE LIMITS OF OBJECTIVITY 324 JACQUES DERRIDA 327 RICHARD RORTY 330 RICHARD NOZICK 332 CONVERSION TO LIBERTARIANISM 332 THE MINIMAL STATE 333 SAUL KRIPKE 336 NAMING AND NECESSITY 337 DAVID KELLOGG LEWIS 339 PETER (ALBERT DAVID) SINGER 341 GLOSSARY 345 FOR FURTHER READING 347 INDEX 349 Pythagoras Confucius Heracleitus Parmenides Zeno of Elea Socrates Democritus Plato Aristotle Mencius Zhuangzi Pyrrhon of Elis Epicurus Zeno of Citium Philo Judaeus Marcus Aurelius Nagarjuna Plotinus Sextus Empiricus Saint Augustine Hypatia Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius Śaṅkara Yaqūb ibn Ishāq aṣ-Ṣabāḥ al-Kindī Al-Fārābī Avicenna Rāmānuja Ibn Gabirol Saint Anselm of Canterbury al-Ghazālī Peter Abelard Averroës Zhu Xi Moses Maimonides Ibn al-'Arabī Shinran Saint Thomas Aquinas John Duns Scotus William of Ockham Niccolò Machiavelli Wang Yangming Francis Bacon, Viscount Saint Alban (or Albans), Baron of Verulam Thomas Hobbes René Descartes John Locke Benedict de Spinoza Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Giambattista Vico George Berkeley Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu David Hume Jean-Jacques Rousseau Immanuel Kant Moses Mendelssohn Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet Jeremy Bentham Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Arthur Schopenhauer Auguste Comte John Stuart Mill Søren Kierkegaard Karl Marx Herbert Spencer Wilhelm Dilthey William James Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege Edmund Husserl Henri Bergson John Dewey Alfred North Whitehead Benedetto Croce Nishida Kitarō Bertrand Russell G.E. Moore Martin Buber Ludwig Wittgenstein Martin Heidegger Rudolf Carnap Sir Karl Popper Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno Jean-Paul Sartre Hannah Arendt Simone de Beauvoir Willard Van Orman Quine Sir A.J. Ayer Wilfrid Sellars John Rawls Thomas S. Kuhn Michel Foucault Noam Chomsky Jürgeb Gabernas Sir Bernard Williams Jacques Derrida Richard Rorty Robert Nozick Saul Kripke David Kellogg Lewis Peter (Albert David) Singer. I think, therefore I am ... influential. Leading philosophers conduct a rational investigation of truth to arrive at a set of principles that others believe and adopt. This compendium of the world's greatest thinkers includes the likes of Confucius, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Hannah Arendt, and René Descartes. Collects brief discussions of the lives and philosophical viewpoints of one hundred thinkers throughout history, arranged chronologically by date of birth, including figures from the fields of ontology, epistemology, and ethics