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470 BCE
Socrates
Was born in Greece. W know of his life through the writings of his students, icluding Platon and Xenophan. His "Socratic method" laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy. When the political climate of Greece turned, Socrates was sentenced to death by him lock poisining in 399BC. He accepted this judgment rather than fleeing into exite. -
Thomas Hobbes
Was born in England. He is known for his views on how humans could thrive in harmony while avoiding the perils and fear of social conflict. His experience during a time of upheaval in England influenced his thoughts, which he captured in the "Elements of Law" and his most famous work "Leviathan". He died in 1679 -
Rene Decartes
Was born in France. He was extensively educated, fist at a Jesuit college at age 8, then earning a Law degtee at 22, but an influental teacher set him on a course to apply mathematics and logic to understanding the natural world. This approach incorporatd the contemplation of the nature of existence and of knowldge itself, hence his most famous observation:"I think, therefore I am". -
Baruch Spinoza
Was born in Amsterdam. When he was 23, his ideas about God, man's immortal soul, and free caused his synagogue to exommunicate him. He publshed his masterpiece "Ethics" in 1677, making him a leader in rationalist thought and paving the wag to the Enlishtenment period. -
David Hume
He is a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empricism and sceptism. He is regarded ao on of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. Hume is often groupd with John Locke, Gorrge Berkely, and a handful of othrs as a British Empiriest. -
Immanuel Kant
Was born in Prussia. While tutoring, he published science papers, including "General Natural History and Theory of the Heavens" in 1755. He spentthe next 15 years as a metaphisics lecturer. In 1781 he published the first part of Critique of Pure Reasons. He published more artiques in the years preceding his death on February,12,1804 in the city of his birth.
