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470 BCE
Socrates of Athens
was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher, of the Western ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, he made no writings and is known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers writing after his lifetime, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. -
427 BCE
Plato
Was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the pivotal figure in the development of Western philosophy. Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. -
384 BCE
Aristotle
was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidiki, in the north of Classical Greece. Along with Plato, he is considered the "Father of Western Philosophy". Standard interpretations of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics usually maintain that Aristotle emphasizes the role of habit in conduct. It is commonly thought that virtues, according to Aristotle, are habits and that the good life is a life of mindless routine. -
1561
Francis Bacon
was an English lawyer, statesman, essayist, historian, intellectual reformer, philosopher, and champion of modern science. Early in his career he claimed “all knowledge as his province” and afterwards dedicated himself to a wholesale revaluation and re-structuring of traditional learning. To take the place of the established tradition (a miscellany of Scholasticism, humanism, and natural magic), he proposed a new system based on empirical and inductive principles. -
Rene Descartes
He is often credited with being the “Father of Modern Philosophy".His fundamental break with Scholastic philosophy was twofold. First, Descartes thought that the Scholastics’ method was prone to doubt given their reliance on sensation as the source for all knowledge. Second, he wanted to replace their final causal model of scientific explanation with the more modern, mechanistic model. -
John Locke
Was an influential English philosopher, physician and social contract theorist commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism". He was best known for his advocacy of life, liberty, and property during the 17th century. Credited with outlining the system of free enterprise and incorporation that has become the legal basis for American business. His works influenced multiple diplomats concerning liberty and the social contract between society and the government. -
1724 Immanuel Kant
Was a German philosopher who is a central figure in modern philosophy. He is the most important proponent in philosophical history of deontological, or duty based, ethics. His ethical theory exerted a powerful influence on the subsequent history of philosophy and continues to be a dominant approach to ethics, rivaling consequentialism and virtue ethics. He believed that reason is the source of morality, and that aesthetics arise from a faculty of disinterested judgment. -
John Dewey
Was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Considered as one of the fathers of functional psychology. He was a leading proponent of the American school of thought known as pragmatism, a view that rejected the dualistic epistemology and metaphysics of modern philosophy in favor of a naturalistic approach that viewed knowledge as arising from an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment.
