Notable Philosophers and Thinkers
This list is comprised of some of the most recognizable names from the world of philosophy. Also included are mathematicians, theologians and those associated with the humanities and social science. However, those considered to be more in the camp of experimental science or invention are listed with the famous scientists.
| Name | Lifespan | Other Names | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abraham Fraenkel | 1891-1965 | (Adolf, Halevi) |  |
| Abraham Maslow | 1908-1970 | | |
| Ada Lovelace | 1815-1852 | | |
| Adam Smith | 1723-1790 | | |
| Adebowale Adefuye | 1947-2015 | (Ibidapo) | |
| Adolf Deißmann | 1866-1937 | (Gustav) | |
| Adolf Hilgenfeld | 1823-1907 | (Bernhard, Christoph) | |
| Adolf Holtzmann | 1810-1870 | | |
| Adolf Hurwitz | 1859-1919 | | |
| Adolf Keller | 1872-1963 | | |
| Adolf Kneser | 1862-1930 | | |
| Adolf Lindenbaum | 1904-1941 | | |
| Adolf Reinach | 1883-1917 | (Bernhard, Philipp) | |
| Adolf Schlatter | 1852-1938 | | |
| Adolf von Harless | 1806-1879 | (Adolph, Gottlieb, Christoph) | |
| Adolf von Harnack | 1851-1930 | (Karl, Gustav) | |
| Adolf Wach | 1843-1926 | (Eduard, Ludwig, Adolph, Gustav) | |
| Adolf Zeising | 1810-1876 | (Richard) | |
| Alan Turing | 1912-1954 | | |
| Albert Camus | 1913-1960 | | |
| Alexander von Humboldt | 1769-1859 | | |
| Alfred Adler | 1870-1937 | | |
| Alfred Marshall | 1842-1924 | | |
| Alfred North Whitehead | 1861-1947 | | |
| Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina | 980-1037 | | |
| Ammianus Marcellinus | c. 325-c. 391 | | |
| Anaxagoras | c. 500-428 BC | | |
| Anaximander | c. 610-c. 546 BC | (Aniximander) | |
| Anaximenes of Miletus | c. 585-c. 528 BC | | |
| Anselm of Canterbury | 1033-1109 | | |
| Anthony Giddens | 1938- | | |
| Apollonius of Perga | c. 262-c. 190 BC | | |
| Archimedes | c. 287-c. 212 BC | | |
| Archytas | 428-347 BC | | |
| Aristotle | 384-322 BC | | |
| Arthur Eddington | 1882-1944 | (Stanley) | |
| Arthur Schopenhauer | 1788-1860 | | |
| Atticus | 1xx-? | (Attikos) | |
| Auguste Comte | 1798-1857 | | |
| Augustine of Hippo | 354-430 | | |
| Baruch Spinoza | 1632-1677 | | |
| Benoit Mandelbrot | 1924-2010 | | |
| Bernhard Riemann | 1826-1866 | | |
| Bertrand Russell | 1872-1970 | | |
| Blaise Pascal | 1623-1662 | | |
| Boethius | 480-524 | (Anicius, Severinus) | |
| B. F. Skinner | 1904-1990 | (Burrhus) | |
| Carl Friedrich Gauss | 1777-1855 | (Karl) | |
| Carl Jung | 1875-1961 | | |
| Carl Rogers | 1902-1987 | | |
| Cassius Dio | c. 155-c. 235 | | |
| Charles Babbage | 1791-1871 | | |
| Charles de Secondat | 1689-1755 | (Montesquieu) | |
| Charles Sanders Peirce | 1839-1914 | | |
| Christiaan Huygens | 1629-1695 | (Christian) | |
| Darko Bratina | 1942-1997 | (Diodato) | |
| David Benatar | 1966- | | |
| David Hilbert | 1862-1943 | | |
| David Hume | 1711-1776 | | |
| David Ricardo | 1772-1823 | | |
| David Rittenhouse | 1732-1796 | | |
| Democritus | c. 460-c. 370 BC | | |
| Denis Diderot | 1713-1784 | | |
| Desiderius Erasmus | 1466-1536 | | |
| Diogenes of Sinope | c. 412-323 BC | | |
| Diophantus of Alexandria | c. 205-c. 290 | | |
| Edmund Husserl | 1859-1938 | | |
| Hakuin Ekaku | 1686-1769 | | |
| Emil Cioran | 1911-1995 | (Mihai) | |
| Émile Durkheim | 1858-1917 | | |
| Empedocles | c. 490-430 BC | | |
| Epictetus | c. 55-c. 135 | (Epiktetos) | |
| Epicurus | 341-270 BC | (Epikouros) | |
| Eratosthenes of Cyrene | c. 276-c. 195 BC | | |
| Erich Fromm | 1900-1980 | | |
| Erik Erikson | 1902-1994 | | |
| Euclid | c. 330-275 BC | | |
| Évariste Galois | 1811-1832 | | |
| Ferdinand de Saussure | 1857-1913 | | |
| Ferdinand Minding | 1806-1885 | (Ernst, Adolf) | |
| Ferdo Šišić | 1869-1940 | | |
| Fibonacci | c. 1170-c. 1250 | (Leonardo) | |
| Florimond de Beaune | 1601-1652 | | |
| Florimond de Raemond | 1540-1601 | | |
| Francis of Assisi | c. 1182-1226 | (Francesco) | |
| Francis Bacon | 1561-1626 | | |
| Franciscus Gomarus | 1563-1641 | (François) | |
| François-Marie Arouet "Voltaire" | 1694-1778 | | |
| Freeman Dyson | 1923-2020 | | |
| Friedrich Engels | 1820-1895 | (Frederick) | |
| Friedrich Hayek | 1899-1992 | (August) | |
| Friedrich Nietzsche | 1844-1900 | (Frederick) | |
| Gautama Buddha | c. 563-c. 483 BC | (Buddha, Siddhartha) | |
| Geoffrey of Monmouth | c. 1100-c. 1155 | | |
| Geordie Williamson | 1981- | | |
| Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | 1770-1831 | (George) | |
| Georg Simmel | 1858-1918 | | |
| George Berkeley | 1685-1753 | | |
| G. E. Moore | 1873-1958 | (George, Edward) | |
| George Santayana | 1863-1952 | (Jorge) | |
| Gerardus Mercator | 1512-1594 | | |
| Gerolamo Cardano | 1501-1576 | | |
| Giordano Bruno | 1548-1600 | | |
| Giovanni Domenico Cassini | 1625-1712 | | |
| Gorgias | c. 485-c. 380 BC | | |
| Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | 1646-1716 | | |
| Gottlob Frege | 1848-1925 | | |
| Gregory of Tours | c. 538-594 | | |
| Guidobaldo del Monte | 1545-1607 | | |
| Gustav Anrich | 1867-1930 | (Adolf) | |
| Gustav Adolf Wislicenus | 1803-1875 | | |
| Gustav Adolf Wohlgemuth | 1868-1942 | | |
| Haskell Curry | 1900-1982 | (Brooks) | |
| Helmuth Nyborg | 1937- | | |
| Henri Bergson | 1859-1941 | (Henry) | |
| Henri Poincaré | 1854-1912 | (Henry) | |
| Henry David Thoreau | 1817-1862 | | |
| Heraclitus of Ephesus | c. 535-c. 475 BC | | |
| Hero of Alexandria | 10-70 | (Heron) | |
| Herodotus | c. 484-425 BC | | |
| Hew Strachan | 1949- | (Francis, Anthony) | |
| Hipparchus of Nicaea | c. 190-c. 120 BC | | |
| Hjalmar Schacht | 1877-1970 | | |
| Hypatia of Alexandria | c. 370-415 | | |
| Ibn Khaldun | 1332-1406 | (Abdur-Rahman) | |
| Immanuel Kant | 1724-1804 | | |
| Isidore of Seville | 560-636 | | |
| Jacques Derrida | 1930-2004 | (Jackie, Élie) | |
| Jacques Lacan | 1901-1981 | | |
| James Gregory | 1638-1675 | | |
| Jan Hus | ?-1415 | | |
| Jean-François Champollion | 1790-1832 | | |
| Jean Chauvin | 1509-1564 | (John) | |
| Jean Piaget | 1896-1980 | | |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | 1712-1778 | (John) | |
| Jean-Paul Sartre | 1905-1980 | (John) | |
| Jeremy Bentham | 1748-1832 | | |
| Jesus Christ | c. 4 BC-c. 33 | | |
| Johann Gottlieb Fichte | 1762-1814 | (John) | |
| John Duns Scotus | c. 1266-1308 | | |
| John Dewey | 1859-1952 | | |
| John Maynard Keynes | 1883-1946 | | |
| John Locke | 1632-1704 | | |
| John Stuart Mill | 1806-1873 | | |
| John Napier | 1550-1617 | | |
| John Forbes Nash Jr. | 1928-2015 | | |
| John von Neumann | 1903-1957 | (János) | |
| Jordan Peterson | 1962- | (Bernt) | |
| Joseph Campbell | 1904-1987 | | |
| Joseph Fourier | 1768-1830 | | |
| Joseph Louis Lagrange | 1736-1813 | (Giuseppe, Lodovico) | |
| Joseph Schumpeter | 1883-1950 | | |
| Josephus | 37-c. 100 | (Titus) | |
| Josias Simmler | 1530-1576 | | |
| Karl Knies | 1821-1898 | (Gustav, Adolf) | |
| Karl Marx | 1818-1883 | | |
| Karl Popper | 1902-1994 | | |
| Karl Ritter | 1779-1859 | (Carl) | |
| Katherine Johnson | 1918-2020 | (Creola) | |
| Meng Ke | c. 372-c. 289 BC | (Mencius) | |
| Kristalina Georgieva | 1953- | | |
| Kurt Gödel | 1906-1978 | | |
| Laozi | ?-5xx BC | (Lao-Tzu) | |
| Leonhard Euler | 1707-1783 | | |
| Leonida Tonelli | 1885-1946 | | |
| Lev Vygotsky | 1896-1934 | | |
| Livy | c. 64 BC-17 | (Titus) | |
| Ljudevit Gaj | 1809-1872 | (Ludwig) | |
| Ljudevit Jonke | 1907-1979 | | |
| Lucretius | c. 99-c. 55 BC | (Titus) | |
| Ludwig von Strümpell | 1812-1899 | (Adolf, Heinrich) | |
| Ludwig Wittgenstein | 1889-1951 | | |
| Mani | 216-274 | | |
| Marcus Aurelius | 121-180 | | |
| Marius Holtrop | 1902-1988 | (Wilhelm) | |
| Marius Lacombe | 1862-1938 | | |
| Marthinus Versfeld | 1909-1995 | | |
| Martin Heidegger | 1889-1976 | | |
| Martin Luther | 1483-1546 | | |
| Max Weber | 1864-1920 | | |
| Mazdak | ?-c. 524 | | |
| Mehr Abdul Haq | 1915-1995 | | |
| Michel Foucault | 1926-1984 | | |
| Milovan Gavazzi | 1895-1992 | | |
| Milton Friedman | 1912-2006 | | |
| Moses Maimonides | 1135-1204 | (Moshe) | |
| Abu'l-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd | 1126-1198 | | |
| Muhammad | 570-632 | | |
| Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi | c. 872-c. 950 | | |
| Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali | 1058-1111 | | |
| Muhammad al-Idrisi | 1099-c. 1165 | (Al Idrisi, Dreses) | |
| Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi | c. 780-850 | | |
| Muhammad al-Razi | 865-925 | | |
| Nagarjuna | c. 150-250 | | |
| Niccolò Machiavelli | 1469-1527 | (Nicholas) | |
| Nicholas of Cusa | 1401-1464 | | |
| Niels Henrik Abel | 1802-1829 | | |
| Noam Chomsky | 1928- | | |
| Nouriel Roubini | 1958- | | |
| Omar Khayyám | 1048-1131 | (Umar) | |
| Origen | 184-253 | | |
| Oriol Junqueras i Vies | 1969- | | |
| Parmenides of Elea | c. 515-c. 450 BC | | |
| Pausanias | 110-180 | | |
| Peter Wessel Zapffe | 1899-1990 | | |
| Philo | c. 20 BC-c. 50 | | |
| Pierre Abélard | 1079-1142 | (Peter) | |
| Pierre Bourdieu | 1930-2002 | | |
| Pierre-Simon Laplace | 1749-1827 | (Peter) | |
| Plato | c. 427-347 BC | | |
| Plotinus | c. 205-270 | | |
| Plutarch | c. 46-120 | (Lucius) | |
| Polybius | c. 200-c. 118 BC | | |
| Protagoras | c. 490-c. 420 BC | | |
| Pyotr Kropotkin | 1842-1921 | (Peter) | |
| Pyrrho | c. 360-c. 270 BC | | |
| Pythagoras | c. 580-500 BC | | |
| Sima Qian | c. 145-86 BC | (Chien) | |
| Kong Qiu | c. 551-479 BC | (Confucius) | |
| Rado Lenček | 1921-2005 | | |
| Raimond Gaita | 1946- | | |
| Raymond Aron | 1905-1983 | (Claude, Ferdinand) | |
| René Descartes | 1596-1650 | | |
| Reşat Ekrem Koçu | 1905-1975 | | |
| Rudolf Steiner | 1861-1925 | (Joseph, Lorenz) | |
| Rupert of Deutz | c. 1075-1129 | | |
| Sabino Acquaviva | 1927-2015 | | |
| Seneca the Younger | 4 BC-65 | | |
| Sigmund Freud | 1856-1939 | | |
| Simone de Beauvoir | 1908-1986 | | |
| Slavoj Žižek | 1949- | | |
| Socrates | c. 470-399 BC | | |
| Søren Kierkegaard | 1813-1855 | | |
| Strabo | c. 64 BC-c. 24 | | |
| Suetonius | 69-122 | (Gaius) | |
| Svetozar Stojanović | 1931-2010 | | |
| Tacitus | c. 56-c. 117 | (Publius) | |
| Talcott Parsons | 1902-1979 | | |
| Tertullian | c. 160-c. 225 | | |
| Thales | c. 624-c. 546 BC | | |
| Theodor W. Adorno | 1903-1969 | | |
| Theodor Mommsen | 1817-1903 | | |
| Thomas Aquinas | 1225-1274 | (Tommaso) | |
| Thomas Hobbes | 1588-1679 | | |
| Thomas Robert Malthus | 1766-1834 | | |
| Thomas More | 1478-1535 | | |
| Thucydides | c. 460-c. 395 BC | | |
| Toufik Mansour | 1968- | | |
| Tullio Gregory | 1929-2019 | | |
| Sun Tzu | c. 544-c. 496 BC | (Wu) | |
| Vahakn Dadrian | 1926- | | |
| Viktor Frankl | 1905-1997 | | |
| Vilfredo Pareto | 1848-1923 | | |
| Wilhelm Reich | 1897-1957 | | |
| Wilhelm Wundt | 1832-1920 | | |
| Willard Van Orman Quine | 1908-2000 | | |
| William of Ockham | c. 1287-1347 | | |
| William James | 1842-1910 | | |
| Xenophanes of Colophon | c. 570-c. 475 BC | | |
| Xenophon | c. 427-c. 355 BC | | |
| Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Kindi | 801-873 | (Alkindus) | |
| Zeno of Citium | c. 334-c. 262 BC | | |
| Zeno of Elea | c. 490-c. 430 BC | | |
| Zerah Colburn | 1804-1839 | | |
| Ziya Onis | 1957- | | |
| Zoroaster | ?-1xxx BC | (Zarathustra) | |