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610 BCE
Anaximander of Miletus (610-546 BCE)
He was one of the greatest minds that ever lived. Anaximander was a philosopher, biologist and geographer of special importance in Greek thought. He was the author of the first surviving lines of Western philosophy. His master was Thales of Miletus who was also a philosopher at that time. Anaximander’s main contribution refers to arché , the beginning of all things. He stated that verything originated from the apeiron or the infinite. -
551 BCE
Confucius (551-479 BCE)
Also known as “Master Kong”, Confucius was a thinker whose influence and social history is immeasurable. He has been idealized for his philosophical thoughts and Confucianism. One of his memorable quotes was, “He who rules by moral force is like the pole star, which remains in its place while all the lesser stars do homage to it.” This quote means that a person who rules with morals will become a stable leader and guide people in the right direction, while the others will respect him. -
469 BCE
Socrates (469-399 BC)
He is one of the most prominent philosophers of all-time. Socrates had shaped the cultural and intellectual development of the world that, without him, history would be profoundly different. His Socratic method is well-known. Socrates famously declares that, "No one commits an evil act knowingly and doing wrong arises from ignorance." This means that when a person does what is wrong, their failure to do what is right is an intellectual error, or due to their own ignorance about what is right. -
428 BCE
Plato (428-348 BC)
He was Socrates’ most famous disciple and ranks among the greatest philosophers of the world. He is viewed by many scholars as the most important philosopher of Western civilization. For Plato, the basis of a happy life is through maintaining virtue. Humans have to be virtuous in order to lead a good and happy life. It is only through being virtuous that we are able to inspire other people. -
384 BCE
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle is amongst the most influential figures in ancient Greek philosophy, who made important contributions in various fields such as metaphysics and ethics. He was a student of Plato. He was known as the "First Teacher" in Arabic philosophy while in the West, he was known as "The Philosopher". For him, knowledge is built from the study of things that happen in the world and that virtues are good habits that we acquire. Also, in order to attain happiness, life must be lived in moderation. -
354 BCE
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
He is considered as the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. He is one of the most important early figures in the development and bringing Christianity to dominance. He created a powerful theological system of lasting influence. He regards ethics as an enquiry into the Summum Bonum: the supreme good, which provides the happiness all human beings seek. For him, happiness consists in the enjoyment of God, a reward granted in the afterlife for virtue in this life. -
341 BCE
Epicurus (341-270 BCE)
He was an ancient Greek Philosopher and a major figure in this history of science and philosophy. He developed an unsparingly materialistic metaphysics, empiricist epistemology, and hedonistic ethics.He was the founder of the Epicurean school in Athens. He thought that the worlds of commerce and politics “constrained the mind, limiting it to the conventional, acceptable thought”. Leaving those worlds mean that you can begin to think of more general, and arguably more important, matters. -
335 BCE
Zeno of Citium (335-263 BCE)
He was a Greek philosopher and mathematician, whom Aristotle called the inventor of dialectic. He was a Hellenistic thinker who founded the Stoic school of philosophy, which influenced the development of philosophical and ethical thoughts in Hellenistic and Roman times. “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.” A quote from Zeno which means that listening is an important part during communication. -
1225
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
He was one of the most influential medieval thinkers of Scholasticism and the father of the Thomistic school of theology. For him, economic transactions, as human interactions, cannot be separated from ethics. Virtues are just as much of relevance to business as they are to every other sphere of human conduct. Business must serve as a common good. He developed rich economic ethics that spells out how business should be informed by virtues and conducted in the light of the idea of social justice. -
1469
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
He is among the most influential and widely debated of history’s thinkers. He was a writer, public office-holder, and philosopher of Renaissance Italy. He has even been identified by some as the father of modern political science. He viewed ambition, competition and war as inevitable parts of human nature, even seeming to embrace all of these tendencies. -
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
He was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. For him, humans beings are selfish creatures by nature and would do anything to improve their position. This is why countries are in constant battle with each other. Hence, it is out of question to leave them by themselves to make decisions on their own. He expressed that there must be laws to be abided in order to prevent chaotic outcomes. This was clearly focused on Hobbes' moral positivism. -
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
He was French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He was born in France but spent 20 years of his life in the Dutch Republic. He wielded considerable intellectual influence over the period known as the Dutch Golden Age. He quoted that, "It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well." By this, people must regard their minds as an essential agent for development. -
David Hume (1711-1776)
He was a Scottish-born historian, economist and philosopher. He was focused on creating a “naturalistic science of man” that delves into the psychological conditions defining human nature. He argued against moral absolutes, instead positing that our ethical behavior and treatment of others is compelled by emotion, sentiment, and internal passions, that we are inclined to positive behaviors by their likely desirable outcomes. -
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
He is considered among the most essential figures in modern philosophy, an advocate of reason as the source for morality, and a thinker whose ideas continue to permeate ethical, epistemological, and political debate. He shared his idea that there are intrinsically good and moral ideas to which we all have a duty, and that rational individuals will inherently find reason in adhering to moral obligation. -
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
He was a jurist, economist, political reformer and philosopher. He is the philosopher most closely associated with the foundational era of the modern utilitarian tradition. He wanted to develop an ethical theory which established whether something was bad or good according to its benefit for the majority of people leading to the establishment of Utilitarianism. He quoted that, "The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." -
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
He was a British economist, public servant and philosopher. He was also a proponent of utilitarianism, which holds that the best action is one that maximizes utility, or stated more simply, one that provide the greatest benefit to all. According to him, acts should be classified as morally right or wrong only if the consequences are of such significance that a person would wish to see the agent compelled, not merely persuaded and exhorted, to act in the preferred manner. -
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
He was a German-born economist, political theorist and philosopher. He wrote some of the most revolutionary philosophical content ever produced. He argued that societies develop through class struggle, and that this would ultimately lead to the dismantling of capitalism. -
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1990)
He was a poet, cultural critic and philosopher as well as possessor of a gifted mind. He articulated ethical dilemma as a tension between the master vs. slave morality. The former in which we make decisions based on the assessment of consequences, and the latter in which we make decisions based on our conception of good vs. evil. He also believed in the individual’s creative capacity to resist social norms and cultural convention in order to live according to a greater set of virtues. -
Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
He was a historian, social theorist and philosopher. He was born in the riverfront city of Poiltiers, France. He dedicated much of his teaching and writing to the examination of power and knowledge and their connection to social control. He believed that oppressed humans are entitled to rights and they have a duty to rise up against the abuse of power to protect these rights.