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620 BCE
Thales of Miletus (620 BC–546 BC)
Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic and Ancient Greek philosopher who said, "The past is certain, the future is unknown." He was one of the legendary Seven Wise Men, or Sophoi, of antiquity, according to tradition. He is best known for his cosmology, which depicted the Earth as a flat disk floating in a huge sea, with water as the essence of all matter. Thales' hypotheses were innovative and daring, and by liberating phenomena from divine influence, he set the ground for scientific inquiry. -
470 BCE
Socrates (469 BC-399 BC)
"An unexamined life is not worth living," said Socrates, a Greek (Athenian) philosopher often regarded as the father of Western philosophy. Plato's dialogues, which have made a significant contribution to the disciplines of ethics and education, are his most famous works. He felt that virtue could be known, even though he did not claim to know it himself, and that those who conduct badly do so only because they are unaware of or misunderstand the true nature of virtue. -
427 BCE
Plato (428 BC-348 BC)
"Never discourage someone who persists in making progress, no matter how slow." Plato was a Greek philosopher and the founder of the Academy in Athens, which is regarded as the world's first university. Plato's philosophy of virtue and human fulfillment is concerned with people's attempts to live happy lives. The wise person, according to Plato, uses her mind to comprehend moral truth and then apply it to her daily life. -
384 BCE
Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC)
Born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidiki, in Classical Greece, he was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. He is known as the "Father of Western Philosophy," along with Plato. Virtues, according to Aristotle, are excellent habits that we develop and that manage our emotions. In contrast to Plato, he did not believe virtues to be simple knowledge in his philosophy. He described it as something that should be done in moderation and in harmony with nature. -
354
Augustine (430 BC-354 BC)
Was a fourth-century Roman African philosopher who blended Christian dogma with Neoplatonism in his innovative philosophy. He is known for his agnostic contributions to Western philosophy as well as being an unrivaled Catholic theologian. Skeptics, he claims, have no basis for claiming to know there is no knowledge. He is also the first Western philosopher to use "the analogy argument" to refute solipsism. -
1225
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
He was a Dominican friar from Italy, a Catholic priest, and a Doctor of the Church. He was a powerful philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the Scholasticism school, and he was also known as the Doctor Angelicus and the Doctor Communis. He combines at least two seemingly different traditions in his moral philosophy: Aristotelian eudaemonism and Christian theology. Economic transactions, he believes, cannot be isolated from ethics because they are human relationships. -
1561
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
As Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England, he was an English philosopher, lawyer, and statesman. He declared himself the possessor of all knowledge. His work is credited with establishing the scientific method, and his work has remained important throughout the scientific revolution. He is credited as one of the creators of the concept of morality's natural nature. The will of man, which drives and organizes his thoughts and activates emotions, was the focus of the study of ethics. -
René Descartes (1569-1650)
He was a philosopher, mathematician, and scientist from France. He is widely regarded as one of the most illustrious intellectuals of the Dutch Golden Age. Along with other interpretations of values and norms, he constructed the concept of moral virtue and happiness. Eudaemonia is promoted by his philosophical and epistemological ideas. -
John Locke (1632-1704)
The "Father of Liberalism" was a prominent English philosopher, physician, and social contract theorist. During the 17th century, he was best recognized for his support of life, liberty, and property. He is credited for laying up the free enterprise and incorporation system that has since been the legal foundation for American industry. His writings on liberty and the social contract between society and the government impacted a number of diplomats. -
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
"Science is the organization of knowledge." Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher and a key figure in the Enlightenment. He claims that human understanding is the source of the basic laws of nature that organize all of our experiences, and that human reason creates the moral law, which is the foundation for our belief in God, freedom, and immortality. Kant is regarded as one of the most significant figures in modern Western philosophy due to his extensive and systematic works. -
George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-18310
Hegel was a German philosopher and the most influential person in German idealism. He said, "Too fair to worship, too divine to adore." Hegel essentially views human civilizations as progressing in the same way that an argument does. He also believed that we do not directly sense the world or anything in it, and that all our minds have access to are world ideas—images, perceptions, and concepts. -
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LYOTARD (1924–1998)
Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher whose best-known work, The Postmodern Condition, was published in 1979, much to his dismay. Lyotard maintained that events constantly happen in the face of what is not presentable to a phenomenology, discourse, language game, or phrase regimen, from his early work on phenomenology through Discourse, Figure, Libidinal Economy, and The Postmodern Condition.