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Aug 3, 2021 · Who are the most important philosophers of all time? These influential philosophers inform our notions about human behavior, logic, reasoning, and spirituality.
- Aristotle. Aristotle, one of the most famous Greek philosophers, was also a polymath who lived in Ancient Greece in 384-322 BC. He was taught by another famous philosopher, Plato.
- Lao-Tzu. Lao-Tzu, another top ten philosopher, developed a theory that is strongly connected to Taoism. He authored the main book on Taoism around 500 BCE in Ancient China.
- John Locke. John Locke, who lived in Europe in the 17th century, was an Oxford academic who also researched medicine. He is best known for his work regarding Enlightenment, along with his developments in liberalism.
- Karl Marx. Karl Marx was a German philosopher in the 1800s who developed Marxism. Marxism focuses on the social, political, and economic theory that there is a struggle between the working class and capitalists.
Learn about Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and their contributions to Western philosophy and theology. Explore their theories of Forms, logic, ethics, virtue, and more.
- Socrates. Born in Athens in 469 BCE, Socrates is widely considered to be the foundational figure in Western philosophy. Intelligent, well-educated, and an accomplished military veteran, he nonetheless was an eccentric figure in his day.
- Plato. The most famous of Socrates’ students, Plato is a renowned Greek philosopher in his own right. As 19 Century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead noted, “the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
- Aristotle. No student of Plato’s Academy is more famous today than Aristotle. Born in Stagira in Northern Greece in about 384 BCE, he journeyed to Athens and joined the Academy when he was about eighteen.
- Confucius. A century before Socrates set the foundations of Western philosophy, a Chinese philosopher did the same in the East. Born in 551 BCE in what is now the Shandong province of China, his name was Kǒng Zhòngni, also known as Kǒng Fūzǐ, or “Master Kong” – Latinized by 16 Century missionaries into the name we now know, “Confucius.”
3 days ago · Aristotle (born 384 bce, Stagira, Chalcidice, Greece—died 322, Chalcis, Euboea) was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, one of the greatest intellectual figures of Classical antiquity and Western history.
- Aristotle was one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived and the first genuine scientist in history. He made pioneering contributions to all f...
- After his father died about 367 BCE, Aristotle journeyed to Athens, where he joined the Academy of Plato. He left the Academy upon Plato’s death ab...
- Aristotle’s most famous teacher was Plato (c. 428–c. 348 BCE), who himself had been a student of Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE). Socrates, Plato, and Ar...
- Aristotle wrote as many as 200 treatises and other works covering all areas of philosophy and science. Of those, none survives in finished form. Th...
- Aristotle’s thought was original, profound, wide-ranging, and systematic. It eventually became the intellectual framework of Western Scholasticism,...
Sep 25, 2008 · Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: Aristotle’s works shaped centuries of philosophy from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance, and even today continue to be studied with keen, non-antiquarian interest.
Plato (born 428/427 bce, Athens, Greece—died 348/347, Athens) was an ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates (c. 470–399 bce), teacher of Aristotle (384–322 bce), and founder of the Academy. He is best known as the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence and is one of the major figures of Classical antiquity.
