The 30 most famous and important philosophers in history

Philosophy is a discipline that studies and tries to answer some fundamental questions for human beings: what is the meaning of existence, the search for truth, morality, ethics, beauty, language, the mind, among many others.

Broadly speaking, in the West we have divided philosophy into some stages (for example, Greek philosophy, medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy) and within each one we have located different thinkers who have helped us understand and produce social changes and cultural

In this article you will find 30 of the most famous philosophers in history in Western societies, as well as a brief description of their theories.

• Related article: "Differences between Psychology and Philosophy"

The most important and famous philosophers in history

Although thousands of people have intervened throughout history, there are thinkers whose The influence on the intellectual is so relevant that it modifies, to a greater or lesser degree, how the societies. In this selection of philosophers you will find the most relevant intellectuals as far as western countries are concerned.

1. Thales of Miletus (624-548 BC. C.)

Considered the first philosopher of Western culture, he was one of the first to give a rational explanation to the phenomena of the world. He proposed that water is the element that gives rise to all living things and by it relates it to the soul, movement and divinity.

He is considered one of the first astrologers in Western history and is credited with works The solstice and the equinox, although it has been difficult to verify whether he actually wrote them. he.

• "The 32 best phrases of Thales of Miletus"

2. Heraclitus (563-470 BC. C.)

Also known as The Dark One of Ephesus, he used to lead a lonely life and he is recognized as one of the inaugurators of metaphysics. He criticized some religious concepts of his time and considered that fire was the main element of life. He was one of the first to use the concept of "becoming" as a basic reality that underlies everything that exists.

• "The 35 best phrases of Heraclitus"

3. Anaximenes (588-524 BC. C.)

Anaximenes explained some processes that were later taken up by modern physics, which are those of condensation and rarefaction. Also he was one of the first to divide the days according to the geometry of the shadows, for which he is credited with having invented the clock.

Along with Thales and Anaximander of Miletus, he is recognized as one of the first astronomers and founders of Ionic philosophy, which studied the atmospheric state and the movements of bodies celestial.

4. Pythagoras (569-475 BC. C.)

Greek philosopher and mathematician, his thought is one of the oldest and most important antecedents of mathematics, analytic geometry, and rational philosophy modern.

He is remembered for having developed the Pythagorean theorem which is used to measure the length and angles of the rectangular triangle, and works such as The Harmony of the Spheres. In fact, in some contexts he is known as the number philosopher.

• "The 35 best famous phrases of Pythagoras"

5. Democritus (460-370 a. C.)

One of the first to defend that everything that exists is made up of atoms (even the soul, which is where true happiness is found), which is why he has been placed in the group of philosophers atomists.

He argues that ethics and virtue are achieved by balancing the passions, which in turn is achieved through knowledge and prudence. His theory includes both poetic, physical, mathematical, philological and technical books.

• "The 24 best phrases of Democritus, Greek philosopher"

6. Socrates (469-399 BC. C.)

Socrates is recognized as the thinker who transformed the direction of European philosophy and the wisest of Greek philosophers. His works are written in the form of dialogues and were transmitted by his disciples.

The basis of his philosophy is the idea of ​​virtue as the foundation of knowledge and wisdom. So is recognized as a moral theory that is based on the recognition of the good and justice.

• "70 phrases of Socrates to understand the thought of him"

7. Plato (427-348 BC. C.)

One of Plato's most studied theories is the theory of ideas, with which he defends the existence of two opposite worlds: that of ideas (the universal reality that is immovable), and the sensible world (the particular reality that can be modified).

Plato was strongly influenced by the philosophy of Socrates, but also by pluralists, Pythagoreans, and other pre-Socratic philosophers. He was also one of the first to study the body as a separate entity from the soul, he insisted on the eternal form and order, on the transience of sensible things, and on using logical reasoning based on mathematics and astronomy. All this has made this thinker one of the most important philosophers in history, especially within the scope of Ancient Greece.

• Related article: "Plato's theory of ideas"

8. Aristotle (384-322 a. C.)

Plato's most recognized student, he sought the ultimate essence of the human being. He had a great interest in biology and his thought had an important medical heritage that was taken up in the early days of modern science.

He was also interested in the study of logic, metaphysics, ethics, political philosophy, psychology and aesthetics, and is credited with establishing the great divisions of philosophy. He is one of the most representative figures of La Academia, the philosophical school founded by Plato, and later, he founded his own school: El Liceo.

• "The 100 best phrases of Aristotle"

9. Epicurus (341-270 BC. C.)

Philosopher who inaugurated the school of Epicureanism, where the central elements are rational hedonism and atomism.

He defended the pursuit of pleasure directed at prudence. He rejected the idea of ​​destiny and also the idea of ​​fatality that was very recurrent in Greek literature.

• "The 40 best phrases of Epicurus"

10. Saint Augustine (354-430)

A philosopher-theologian, prominent member of the school of La Patrística, whose most memorable work is The City of God, where he tried to counter the attack of those who thought or lived contrary to the Christianity.

Among his outstanding reflections are, first of all, God, then the soul, and finally the world. He defended the existence of logical truths, which for him resided in the cases in which the statements correspond to external reality; and ontological truths, which refer to being.

11. Averroes (1126-1198)

Averroes was a philosopher of Andalusian origin who considered himself one of the most important teachers of Islamic philosophy and law, but also of medicine and astronomy.

His thinking influenced both Western societies and Islamic philosophy and is recognized as a philosopher and theologian who questioned the relationship between religion and science, faith and reason, and with his philosophy he sought to validate both.

12. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Philosopher and theologian from the scholastic school, whose philosophy is fundamentally realistic and concrete, but based on the exploration of the idea that the divine exists. To describe reality, he takes the existing world as his starting point, so part of his thinking focuses on the idea of ​​the Supreme Existence.

He recognized two dimensions of knowledge that in both cases come from God, so they are collaborative and give rise to theology: natural knowledge, which refers to reason and logic; and knowledge the supernatural, which refers to faith.

• "The 70 best phrases of Saint Thomas Aquinas"

13. William of Occam (1288-1349)

William of Occam is recognized as one of the philosophers who laid the foundations for the change between the theological philosophy of the Middle Ages and modern philosophy. Distinguish between reason and faith, he separates himself from the proposals of both Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and develops his own thought that is known as nominalism.

According to Occam, we cannot know the intimate essence of beings through the reason that categorizes them beings in species, but we can only know them by their individuality and by sensory experience basic. That is why his philosophy is recognized as the beginnings of modern experimental science.

14. René Descartes (1596-1650)

René Descartes is credited with laying the foundations of modern philosophy. One of his most popular phrases is cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I exist), with which he defends that the world is made up of two separate substances: the mind and the body. In short, consolidate a vision dualist of reality.

He proposed a subject-centered philosophy of reason, that is, that the absolute truth lies in the mind, what he equates with the idea of ​​God, and that valid knowledge that is constructed by rational thought and by calculation.

• You may be interested: "René Descartes' valuable contributions to Psychology"

15. John Locke (1632-1704)

He is recognized as the father of classical liberalism and one of the main philosophers of the school of empiricism. His reflections revolve around the relationship between science and democracy, and his ideas inspired much of the foundations of contemporary democratic societies.

He rejected the existence of a biological determinism in the human being, so there are no innate ideas, but all come from experience. This significantly influenced modern epistemology, that is, the theory of knowledge that laid the foundations for scientific development.

• "The 65 best famous phrases of John Locke"

16. David Hume (1711-1776)

He represents empiricist philosophy, which he considers that knowledge does not arise innately (as argued by the rationalists), but is built through sense experience.

He was interested in the relationship between deep philosophy critical of religion and attentive to the transmission of the world by education and traditions. Among his most important works is the Treatise on human nature, and essays on morals and politics.

17. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

One of the leading exponents of both empiricism and rationalism, he argues that knowledge is made up not only of reason but also of experience. He tried to find the relationship between nature and spirit and discover the principles of action and free will.

For Kant, the primary forms of sensibility are space and time, and they are the categories we can make reality intelligible. To achieve this intelligibility and make use of the things of the world we must adapt them, so that we cannot finally know them as they are, but in their version manipulated by ourselves. For this philosopher, what exists beyond human perception, the so-called noumenon, it cannot be known perfectly.

18. Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

He is considered the highest representative of German idealism and one of the paradigms of modern man. He develops much of his thinking around the "absolute idea" that is the ultimate cause of the world, an objective cause that can only manifest itself in self-knowledge.

He defends that everything unfolds dialectically, that is, through the constant change and development of History. For Hegel, the dialectical method has three moments: thesis, antithesis and synthesis, and it serves to understand the real situation in the world.

• "The 32 best famous phrases of Hegel"

19. Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

French philosopher who is known as the father of positivism, a philosophy that was considered superior to materialism and idealism and that he proposes that authentic knowledge can only be achieved by the scientific method, that is, by testing hypotheses.

He is also remembered as one of the founders of modern sociology along with Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim. Another of his famous theories is the theory of evolution or the law of the three stages, which served to describe the mind and knowledge as processes that advanced through a theological stage, then a metaphysical one, and finally a positive.

20. Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Renowned for harsh criticism of capitalism, he proposed that capitalist societies are structured by social classes, and that the struggle of these classes is what makes societies modify. In this sense, the ideal society is one that is governed by the proletarian class and a stateless socialism.

He developed modern communism and together with Engels, Marxism. Some of his most important ideas are that of surplus value, the theory of class struggle and the materialist conception of history.

21. Friedrich Engels (1820-1895)

One of the greatest defenders of revolutionary democracy, freedom and the social transformation that comes from the hand of the people. He strongly criticizes religion as well as the economic system based on private property.

Currently the most studied works of him are the Communist manifesto, From utopian socialism to scientific socialism and the Introduction to the dialectic of nature.

22. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Of German origin, Nietzsche is especially remembered for the phrase "God is dead" with which he wanted to criticize religion, Western ideals and philosophy based on false and moral standards.

He had faith in the emergence of a new man, whom he called Superman, who could overcome traditional morality and generate his own value system with a genuine will to power. That is why Nietzsche is considered one of the most powerful critics of modernity.

• "The 60 best famous phrases of Nietzsche"

23. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)

Also of German origin, Heidegger is one of the representatives of existentialist philosophy, since he believes that the human being has been thrown into existence (without having asked), so the philosophy's main mission should be to clarify the sense of being, what he called Dasein (be there).

• Related article: "What is Dasein according to Martin Heidegger?"

24. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

French philosopher considered one of the greatest exponents of the existentialist current, which became especially popular as a result of the Second World War.

Some of the key questions in his thinking have to do with the meaning of life in relation to the idea of ​​freedom and personal responsibility. Among his most famous works is Nausea Y Critique of dialectical reason.

25. Jürgen Habermas (1921-)

Habermas's thought has been one of the most influential in modern philosophy. He describes modern and contemporary values ​​proposing that modernity is based on a cultural disarticulation in the cognitive sphere (for scientific and technological progress), the evaluative sphere (related to moral and ethical evolution); and the aesthetic-expressive sphere, which is expressed in the countercultural forms of life.

He is credited with having made important contributions to critical social theory, the theory of science, the theory of language and meaning, and the theory of action and ethics.

26. Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017)

One of the most important contemporary sociologists, whose work has been considered key to understanding current societies. Bauman's thinking analyzes social networks, the social changes caused by the expansion of the internet and social movements of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Perhaps the most prominent term in Bauman's work is that of "liquid modernity" where he questions the ways of life of the postmodern subject before the multiplicity and instability of referents and imaginaries and the lack of values ​​that endure.

• "The 70 best phrases of Zygmunt Bauman"

27. Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Foucault is one of the most important thinkers of the 21st century, who has characterized himself as a philosopher poststructuralist for his criticism of the structuralist current that had defined activity in the sciences social.

He developed a new notion of the subject that starts from a critique of contemporary institutions that objectify him (such as prison, the psychiatric hospital, or science itself), as well as the analysis of power relations and, above all, of the question of how it is that the human being turns himself or herself into a subject.

• "75 phrases and reflections of Michel Foucault"

28. Noam Chomsky (1928-)

Chomsky is an American and socialist philosopher, political scientist, and linguist who has done major studies in cognitive and linguistic theory as well as political activism. His most popular theory is universal grammar, with which he has proposed that language acquisition has common and innate principles in all languages.

He is also famous for defending libertarian political structures and for his criticism of capitalism, social Darwinism, and US imperialism.

• "The 30 best famous phrases of Noam Chomsky"

29. Slavoj Zizek (1949-)

Slovenian-born philosopher who is considered one of the most important critical thinkers of modern times. His theories incorporate the proposals of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Marxist dialectical materialism and revolve around political and cultural movements, current social crises, the construction of ideologies and contemporary systems of thought.

Among his most outstanding works are The sublime object of ideology, Cultural studies reflections on multiculturalism Y Who said totalitarianism? Five interventions on the (mis) use of a notion.

• "The 20 best famous phrases of Slavoj Zizek"

30. Byung-Chul Han (1959-)

Philosopher and essayist originally from Seoul and professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, whose thought has gained more and more importance in the studies of contemporary times.

His works perform a criticism of economic and political systems based on neoliberalism, labor competition, digital exhibitionism and the little political transparency of today's societies.

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• Labrador, A. (2015). Jürgen Habermas: communicative action, reflexivity and the world of life. Acta sociológica, 67: e24-e51.
• Chávez, P. (2004). History of philosophical doctrines. National Autonomous University of Mexico: Mexico.
• Roa, A. (1995). Modernity and Postmodernity. Fundamental coincidences and differences. Editorial Andrés Bello: Chile
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• Leaman, O. (1988). Averroes and his Philosophy of him. Routledge: USA.
• Copleston, F. (1960). Saint Thomas of Aquino. History of philosophy Volume II. Retrieved March 4, 2018. Available in https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/33784667/2_Copleston-Tomas.pdf? AWSAccessKeyId = AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A & Expires = 1522832718 & Signature = aiA9XmknZWf1QycxeUsnYwFi54A% 3D & response-content-disposition = inline% 3B% 20filename% 3D2_Copleston-Tomas.pdf