The Major Ethical Philosophers

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

1724 BCE

"All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason" At the foundation of Kant’s system is the doctrine of “transcendental idealism,” which emphasizes a distinction between what we can experience (the natural, observable world) and what we cannot “supersensible” objects.

Adam Smith (1723-1790

1723 BCE

• "No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable"
• He is considered the father of modern economics. Smith is most famous for his 1776 book, "The Wealth of Nations. Smith's ideas–the importance of free markets, assembly-line production methods, and gross domestic product (GDP)–formed the basis for theories of classical economics.

David Hume (1711-1776)

1711 BCE

• "Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty"
• Generally regarded as one of the most important philosophers to write in English, and was also well known in his own time as an historian and essayist. A master stylist in any genre —A Treatise of Human Nature, Human Understanding, Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), and Dialogues concerning Natural Religion.

Anaximender (610-546)

610 BCE

• "The source from which existing things derive their existence is also that to which they return at their destruction"
• Anaximander of Miletus was a Greek scholar who first proposed that the sun, moon and planets revolved around the earth.

Confucius (551-479)

551 BCE

• "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall"
• the first teacher in China who wanted to make education broadly available and who was instrumental in establishing the art of teaching as a vocation.