Timeline of Western philosophers

Timeline of Eastern | Western philosophers

This is a list of philosophers from the Western tradition of philosophy.

Western philosophers

Greek philosophers

600–500 BCE

• Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 546 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water.
• Pherecydes of Syros (c. 620 – c. 550 BCE). Cosmologist.
• Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 – 546 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Famous for the concept of Apeiron, or "the boundless".
• Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585 – 525 BCE). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of air.
• Pythagoras of Samos (c. 580 – c. 500 BCE). Of the Ionian School. Believed the deepest reality to be composed of numbers, and that souls are immortal.
• Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570 – 480 BCE). Advocated monotheism. Sometimes associated with the Eleatic school.
• Epicharmus of Kos (c. 530 – 450 BCE). Comic playwright and moralist.

500–400 BCE

• Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BCE). Of the Ionians. Emphasized the mutability of the universe.
• Parmenides of Elea (c. 515 – 450 BCE). Of the Eleatics. Reflected on the concept of Being.
• Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c. 500 – 428 BCE). Of the Ionians. Pluralist.
• Empedocles (492 – 432 BCE). Eclectic cosmogonist. Pluralist.
• Zeno of Elea (c. 490 – 430 BCE). Of the Eleatics. Known for his paradoxes.
• Protagoras of Abdera (c. 481 – 420 BCE). Sophist. Early advocate of relativism.
• Antiphon (480 – 411 BCE). Sophist.
• Hippias (Middle of the 5th century BCE). Sophist.
• Gorgias. (c. 483 – 375 BCE). Sophist. Early advocate of solipsism.
• Socrates of Athens (c. 470 – 399 BCE). Emphasized virtue ethics. In epistemology, understood dialectic to be central to the pursuit of truth.
• Critias of Athens (c. 460 – 413 BCE). Atheist writer and politician.
• Prodicus of Ceos (c. 465 – c. 395 BCE). Sophist.
• Leucippus of Miletus (First half of the 5th century BCE). Founding Atomist, Determinist.
• Thrasymachus of Miletus (c. 459 – c. 400 BCE). Sophist.
• Democritus of Abdera (c. 450 – 370 BCE). Founding Atomist.
• Diagoras of Melos (c. 450 – 415 BCE). Atheist.
• Archelaus. A pupil of Anaxagoras.
• Melissus of Samos. Eleatic.
• Cratylus. Follower of Heraclitus.
• Ion of Chios. Pythagorean cosmologist.
• Echecrates. Pythagorean.
• Timaeus of Locri. Pythagorean.

400–300 BCE

• Antisthenes (c. 444 – 365 BCE). Founder of Cynicism. Pupil of Socrates.
• Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 440 – 366 BCE). A Cyrenaic. Advocate of ethical hedonism.
• Alcidamas c. 435 – c. 350 BCE). Sophist.
• Lycophron (Sophist) c. 430 – c. 350 BCE). Sophist.
• Diogenes of Apollonia (c. 425 – c 350 BCE). Cosmologist.
• Hippo (c. 425 – c 350 BCE). Atheist cosmologist.
• Xenophon (c. 427 – 355 BCE). Historian.
• Plato (c. 427 – 347 BCE). Famed for view of the transcendental forms. Advocated polity governed by philosophers.
• Speusippus (c. 408 – 339 BCE). Nephew of Plato.
• Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408 – 355 BCE). Pupil of Plato.
• Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404 – 323 BCE). Cynic.
• Xenocrates (c. 396 – 314 BCE). Disciple of Plato.
• Aristotle (c. 384 – 322 BCE). A polymath whose works ranged across all philosophical fields.

Hellenistic era philosophers

300–200 BCE

• Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BCE). Peripatetic.
• Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360 – 270 BCE). Skeptic.
• Strato of Lampsacus (c. 340 – c. 268 BCE). Atheist, Materialist.
• Theodorus the Atheist (c. 340 – c. 250 BCE). Cyrenaic.
• Epicurus (c. 341 – 270 BCE). Materialist Atomist, hedonist. Founder of Epicureanism
• Zeno of Citium (c. 333 – 264 BCE). Founder of Stoicism.
• Timon (c. 320 – 230 BCE). Pyrrhonist, skeptic.
• Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 – c. 230 BCE). Astronomer.
• Euclid (fl. 300 BCE). Mathematician, founder of geometry.
• Archimedes (c. 287 – c. 212 BCE). Mathematician and inventor.
• Chrysippus of Soli (c. 280 – 207 BCE). Major figure in Stoicism.
• Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BCE). Geographer and mathematician.

200–100 BCE

• Carneades (c. 214 – 129 BCE). Academic skeptic. Understood probability as the purveyor of truth.
• Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 190 – c. 120 BCE). Astronomer and mathematician, founder of trigonometry.

Roman era philosophers

100 BCE – 1 CE

• Cicero (c. 106 BCE – 43 BCE) Skeptic. Political theorist.
• Lucretius (c. 99 – 55 BCE). Epicurean.

1–100 CE

• Philo (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE). Believed in the allegorical method of reading texts.
• Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BCE – 65 CE). Stoic.
• Quintilian (c. 35 CE – c. 100 CE). Rhetorician and teacher.
• Hero of Alexandria (c. 10 CE – c. 70 CE). Engineer.

100–200 CE

• Epictetus (c. 55 – 135). Stoic. Emphasized ethics of self–determination.
• Marcus Aurelius (121–180). Stoic.

200–400 CE

• Sextus Empiricus (fl. during the 2nd and possibly the 3rd centuries AD). Skeptic, Pyrrhonist.
• Plotinus (c. 205 – 270). Neoplatonist. Had a holistic metaphysics.
• Porphyry (c. 232 – 304). Student of Plotinus.
• Iamblichus of Syria (c. 245 – 325). Late neoplatonist. Espoused theurgy.
• Augustine of Hippo (c. 354 – 430). Original Sin. Church father.
• Proclus (c. 412 – 485). Neoplatonist.

Medieval philosophers

500–800 CE

• Boethius (c. 480–524).
• John Philoponus (c. 490–570).
• John of Damascus (c. 680-750).

800–900 CE

• Al-Kindi (c. 801 – 873). Major figure in Islamic philosophy. Influenced by Neoplatonism.
• Abbas ibn Firnas (809–887). Polymath.
• John the Scot (c. 815 – 877). neoplatonist, pantheist.

900–1000 CE

• al–Faràbi (c. 870 – 950). Major Islamic philosopher. Neoplatonist.
• Saadia Gaon (c. 882 – 942). Jewish Philosopher
• al-Razi (c. 865 – 925). Rationalist. Major Islamic philosopher. Held that God creates universe by rearranging pre–existing laws.

1000–1100 CE

• Al-Biruni (973– after 1050) Islamic polymath.
• Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (c. 980–1037). Major Islamic philosopher.
• Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron) (c. 1021–1058). Jewish philosopher.
• Anselm (c. 1034–1109). Christian philosopher. Produced ontological argument for the existence of God.
• Khayyam (c. 1048–1131). Major Islamic philosopher. Agnostic. Mathematician. Philosophical poet, one of the 5 greatest Iranian Poets.
• Al-Ghazali (c. 1058–1111). Islamic philosopher. Mystic.

1100–1200 CE

• Peter Abelard (c. 1079–1142). Scholastic philosopher. Dealt with problem of universals.
• Abraham ibn Daud (c. 1110–1180). Jewish philosophy.
• Peter Lombard (c. 1100–1160). Scholastic.
• Averroes (Ibn Rushd, "The Commentator") (c. 1126–December 10, 1198). Islamic philosopher.
• Maimonides (c. 1135–1204). Jewish philosophy.
• Sohrevardi (c. 1154–1191). Major Islamic philosopher.
• St Francis of Assisi (c. 1182–1226). Ascetic.

1200–1300 CE

• Fibonacci (c. 1170–c. 1250), mathematician.
• Michael Scot (1175–c. 1232), mathematician.
• Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175–1253).
• Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus) (c. 1193–1280). Early Empiricist.
• Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294). Empiricist, mathematician.
• Ibn Sab'in (1217–1271 CE).
• Thomas Aquinas (c. 1221–1274). Christian philosopher.
• Bonaventure (c. 1225–1274). Franciscan.
• Siger (c. 1240–c. 1280). Averroist.
• Boetius of Dacia. Averroist, Aristotelian.

1300–1400 CE

• Ramon Llull (c. 1232–1315) Catalan philosopher
• Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328). mystic.
• Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308). Franciscan, Scholastic, Original Sin.
• Marsilius of Padua (c. 1270–1342). Understood chief function of state as mediator.
• William of Ockham (c. 1288–1348). Franciscan. Scholastic. Nominalist, creator of Ockham's razor.
• Gersonides (c. 1288–1344). Jewish philosopher.
• Jean Buridan (c. 1300–1358). Nominalist.
• John Wycliffe (c. 1320–1384).
• Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–5 – 1382). Made contributions to economics, science, mathematics, theology and philosophy.
• Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406).
• Hasdai Crescas (c. 1340 – c. 1411). Jewish philosopher.
• Gemistus Pletho (c. 1355 – 1452/1454). Late Byzantine scholar of neoplatonic philosophy.

1400–1500 CE

• Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464). Christian philosopher.
• Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457). Humanist, critic of scholastic logic.
• Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499). Christian Neoplatonist, head of Florentine Academy and major Renaissance Humanist figure. First translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin.
• Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494). Renaissance humanist.

Early modern philosophers

1500–1550 CE

• Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536). Humanist, advocate of free will.
• Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527). Political realism.
• Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
• Sir Thomas More (1478–1535). Humanist, created term "utopia".
• Martin Luther (1483–1546). Major Western Christian theologian.
• Petrus Ramus (1515–1572).

1550–1600 CE

• John Calvin (1509–1564). Major Western Christian theologian.
• Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592). Humanist, skeptic.
• Pierre Charron (1541–1603).
• Giordano Bruno (1548–1600). Advocate of heliocentrism.
• Francisco Suarez (1548–1617). Politically proto–liberal.
• Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
• Molla-Sadra (1572–1640). Major Islamic philosopher.

1600–1650 CE

• Herbert of Cherbury (1583–1648). Nativist.
• Francis Bacon (1561–1626). Empiricist.
• Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). Heliocentrist.
• Hugo Grotius (1583–1645). Natural law theorist.
• François de La Mothe Le Vayer (1588–1672)
• Marin Mersenne (1588–1648). Cartesian.
• Robert Filmer (1588–1653).
• Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655). Mechanicism. Empiricist.
• René Descartes (1596–1650). Heliocentrism, mind-body dualism, rationalism.
• Baltasar Gracián (1601–1658). Spanish catholic philosopher

1650–1700 CE

• Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). Political realist.
• Antoine Arnauld (1612–1694).
• François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680).
• Henry More (1614–1687).
• Jacques Rohault (1617–1672), Cartesian.
• Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688). Cambridge Platonist.
• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). Physicist, scientist. Noted for Pascal's wager.
• Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673). Materialist, feminist.
• Arnold Geulincx (1624–1669). Important occasionalist theorist.
• Pierre Nicole (1625–1695).
• Geraud Cordemoy (1626–1684). Dualist.
• Robert Boyle (1627–1691).
• Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway (1631–1679).
• Richard Cumberland (1631–1718). Early proponent of utilitarianism.
• Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677). Rationalism.
• Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694). Social contract theorist.
• John Locke (1632–1704). Major Empiricist. Political philosopher.
• Joseph Glanvill (1636–1680).
• Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715). Cartesian.
• Isaac Newton (1643–1727).
• Simon Foucher (1644–1696). Skeptic.
• John Flamsteed (1646 – 1719). Astronomer.
• Pierre Bayle (1647–1706). Pyrrhonist.
• Damaris Masham (1659–1708).
• John Toland (1670–1722).

1700–1750 CE

• Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716). Co-inventor of calculus.
• John Norris (1657–1711).
• Jean Meslier (1664–1729). Atheist Priest.
• Giambattista Vico (1668–1744).
• Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733).
• Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1671–1713).
• Samuel Clarke (1675–1729).
• Catherine Cockburn (1679–1749).
• Christian Wolff (1679–1754). Determinist, rationalist.
• George Berkeley (1685–1753). Idealist, empiricist.
• Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755). Skeptic, humanist.
• Joseph Butler (1692–1752).
• Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746). Proto–utilitarian.
• John Gay (1699–1745).
• David Hartley (1705–1757).
• Julien La Mettrie (1709–1751). Materialist, genetic determinist.

1750–1800 CE

• Voltaire (1694–1778). Advocate for freedoms of religion and expression.
• Thomas Reid (1710–1796). Member of Scottish Enlightenment, founder of Scottish Common Sense philosophy.
• David Hume (1711–1776). Empiricist, skeptic.
• Jean–Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). Social contract political philosopher.
• Denis Diderot (1713–1784).
• Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762).
• Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771). Utilitarian.
• Etienne de Condillac (1715–1780).
• Jean d'Alembert (1717–1783).
• Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789). Materialist, atheist.
• Adam Smith (1723–1790). Economic theorist, member of Scottish Enlightenment.
• Richard Price (1723–1791). Political liberal.
• Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Deontologist, proponent of synthetic a priori truths.
• Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786). Member of the Jewish Enlightenment.
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781).
• Edmund Burke (1729–1797). Conservative political philosopher.
• William Paley (1743–1805).
• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Liberal political philosopher.
• Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Utilitarian, hedonist.
• Sylvain Maréchal (1750–1803) Anarcho-Communist, Deist
• Dugald Stewart (1753–1828).
• William Godwin (1756–1836). Anarchist, utilitarian.
• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797). Feminist.
• Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805).
• Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814).

Modern philosophers

1800–1850 CE

• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). Early evolutionary theorist.
• Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827). Determinist.
• Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) Conservative
• Comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Socialist.
• Madame de Staël (1766–1817).
• Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834). Hermeneutician.
• G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831). German idealist.
• James Mill (1773–1836). Utilitarian.
• F. W. J. von Schelling (1775–1854). German idealist.
• Bernard Bolzano (1781–1848).
• Richard Whately (1787–1863).
• Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860). Pessimism, Critic, Absurdist.
• John Austin (1790–1859). Legal positivist, utilitarian.
• William Whewell (1794–1866).
• Auguste Comte (1798–1857). Social philosopher, positivist.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882). Transcendentalist, abolitionist, egalitarian, humanist.
• Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872).
• Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859).
• Max Stirner (1806–1856). Anarchist.
• Augustus De Morgan (1806–1871). Logician.
• John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). Utilitarian.
• Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865). Anarchist.
• Charles Darwin (1809–1882). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science.
• Jaime Balmes (1810–1848)
• Margaret Fuller (1810–1850). Egalitarian.
• Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855). Existentialist.
• Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). Transcendentalist, pacifist, abolitionist.

1850–1900 CE

• Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet (1788–1856).
• Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883). Egalitarian, abolitionist.
• Harriet Taylor Mill (1807–1858). Egalitarian, utilitarian.
• Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876). Revolutionary anarchist.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902). Egalitarian.
• Hermann Lotze (1817–1881).
• Karl Marx (1818–1883). Socialist, formulated historical materialism.
• Friedrich Engels (1820–1895). Egalitarian, dialectical materialist.
• Herbert Spencer (1820–1903). Nativism, libertarianism, social Darwinism.
• Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906). Feminist.
• Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911).
• Edward Caird (1835–1908). Idealist.
• T.H. Green (1836–1882). British idealist.
• Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900). Rationalism, utilitarianism.
• Ernst Mach (1838–1916). Philosopher of science, influence on logical positivism.
• Franz Brentano (1838–1917). Phenomenologist.
• Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914). Pragmatist.
• William James (1842–1910). Pragmatism, Radical empiricism.
• Hermann Cohen (1842-1918). Neo-Kantianism, Jewish philosophy.
• Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921). Anarchist communism.
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). Naturalistic philosopher, influence on Existentialism.
• W. K. Clifford (1845–1879). Evidentialist.
• F. H. Bradley (1846–1924). Idealist.
• Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). Social philosopher.
• Bernard Bosanquet (1848–1923). Idealist.
• Gottlob Frege (1848–1925). Influential analytic philosopher.
• Cook Wilson (1849–1915).
• Hans Vaihinger (1852–1933). Specialist in counterfactuals.
• David George Ritchie (1853–1903). Idealist.
• Alexius Meinong (1853–1920). Logical realist.
• Henri Poincaré (1854–1912).
• Josiah Royce (1855–1916). Idealist.
• Andrew Seth Pringle-Pattison (1856–1931).
• Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913). Linguist, Semiotics, Structuralism.
• Émile Durkheim (1858–1917). Social philosopher.
• Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932).
• Edmund Husserl (1859–1938). Founder of phenomenology.
• Samuel Alexander (1859–1938). Perceptual realist.
• Henri Bergson (1859–1941).
• John Dewey (1859–1952). Pragmatism.
• Jane Addams (1860–1935). Pragmatist.
• Pierre Duhem (1861–1916).
• Karl Groos (1861–1946). Evolutionary instrumentalist theory of play.
• Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Process Philosophy, Mathematician, Logician, Philosophy of Physics, Panpsychism.
• George Herbert Mead (1863–1931). Pragmatism, symbolic interactionist.
• Max Weber (1864–1920). Social philosopher.
• Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936).
• J. M. E. McTaggart (1866–1925). Idealist.
• Benedetto Croce (1866–1952).
• Emma Goldman (1869–1940). Anarchist.
• Rosa Luxemburg (1870–1919). Marxist political philosopher.
• G. E. Moore (1873–1958). Common sense theorist, ethical non–naturalist.

1900–2000 CE

• George Santayana (1863–1952). Pragmatism, naturalism; known for many aphorisms.
• H.A. Prichard (1871–1947). Moral intuitionist.
• Bertrand Russell (1872–1970). Analytic philosopher, nontheist, influential.
• A.O. Lovejoy (1873–1962).
• Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948). Existentialist.
• Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945).
• Max Scheler (1874–1928). German phenomenologist.
• Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944). Idealist and fascist philosopher.
• Ralph Barton Perry (1876–1957).
• W.D. Ross (1877–1971). Deontologist.
• Martin Buber (1878–1965). Jewish philosopher, existentialist.
• Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973).
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955). Christian evolutionist.
• Hans Kelsen (1881–1973). Legal positivist.
• Moritz Schlick (1882–1936). Founder of Vienna Circle, logical positivism.
• Otto Neurath (1882–1945). Member of Vienna Circle.
• Nicolai Hartmann (1882–1950).
• Jacques Maritain (1882–1973). Human rights theorist.
• José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955). Philosopher of History.
• C.I. Lewis (1883–1964). Conceptual pragmatist.
• Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962).
• Georg Lukács (1885–1971). Marxist philosopher.
• Walter Terence Stace (1886–1967)
• Karl Barth (1886–1968).
• C. D. Broad (1887–1971).
• Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951). Analytic philosopher, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, influential.
• Gabriel Marcel (1889–1973). Christian existentialist.
• Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). Phenomenologist.
• Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937). Marxist philosopher.
• Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
• Walter Benjamin (1892–1940). Marxist. Philosophy of language.
• Brand Blanshard (1892–1987).
• F. S. C. Northrop (1893–1992). Epistemologist.
• Roman Ingarden (1893–1970). Perceptual realist, phenomenalist.
• Susanne Langer (1895–1985).
• Friedrich Waismann (1896–1959). Vienna Circle. Logical positivist.
• Georges Bataille (1897–1962).
• Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979). Frankfurt School.
• Xavier Zubiri (1898–1983). Materialist open realism.
• Leo Strauss (1899–1973). Political Philosopher.
• H.H. Price (1899–1984).
• Gilbert Ryle (1900–1976).
• Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002). Hermeneutics.
• Jacques Lacan (1901–1981). Structuralism.
• Alfred Tarski (1901–1983). Created T–Convention in semantics.
• E. Nagel (1901–1985). Logical positivist.
• Karl Popper (1902–1994). Falsificationist.
• Mortimer Adler (1902–2001).
• Frank P. Ramsey (1903–1930). Proposed redundancy theory of truth.
• Theodor Adorno (1903–1969). Frankfurt School.
• Ernest Addison Moody (1903–1975).
• Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980). Humanism, existentialism.
• Karl Jaspers (1905–1982). Existentialist.
• Eugen Fink (1905–1975). Phenomenologist.
• Ayn Rand (1905–1982). Objectivist, Individualist.
• Kurt Gödel (1906–1978). Vienna Circle.
• Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995).
• Hannah Arendt (1906–1975). Political Philosophy.
• H.L.A. Hart (1907–1992). Legal positivism.
• C.L. Stevenson (1908–1979).
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961). Influential French phenomenologist.
• Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986). Existentialist, feminist.
• Willard van Orman Quine (1908–2000).
• Simone Weil (1909–1943).
• A.J. Ayer (1910–1989). Logical positivist, emotivist.
• J.L. Austin (1911–1960).
• Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980). Media theory.
• Alan Turing (1912–1954). Functionalist in philosophy of mind.
• Wilfrid Sellars (1912–1989). Influential American philosopher
• Albert Camus (1913–1960). Absurdist.
• Paul Ricœur (1913–2005). French philosopher and theologian.
• Roland Barthes (1915–1980). French semiotician and literary theorist.
• J. L. Mackie (1917–1981). Moral skeptic.
• Donald Davidson (1917–2003).
• Louis Althusser (1918–1990).
• M. Bunge (1919–2020).
• R. M. Hare (1919–2002).
• P. F. Strawson (1919–2006).
• John Rawls (1921–2002). Liberal.
• Stephen Toulmin (1922–2009).
• Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017). Polish sociologist and philosopher, who introduced the idea of liquid modernity.
• Frantz Fanon (1925–1961). Postcolonialism
• Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995). Post-structuralism
• Michel Foucault (1926–1984). Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism, and the concept of biopolitics.
• Hilary Putnam (1926–2016).
• David Malet Armstrong (1926–2014).
• John Howard Yoder (1927–1997). Pacifist.
• Noam Chomsky (born 1928). Linguist.
• Robert M. Pirsig (1928–2017). Introduced the Methaphysics of Quality. MOQ incorporates facets of East Asian philosophy, pragmatism and the work of F. S. C. Northrop.
• Bernard Williams (1929–2003). Moral philosopher.
• Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007). Postmodernism, Post-structuralism.
• Jürgen Habermas (born 1929).
• Jaakko Hintikka (1929–2015).
• Alasdair MacIntyre (born 1929). Aristotelian.
• Allan Bloom (1930–1992). Political Philosopher.
• Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002). French psychoanalytic sociologist and philosopher.
• Jacques Derrida (1930–2004). Deconstruction.
• Guy Debord (1931–1994). French Marxist philosopher.
• Richard Rorty (1931–2007). Pragmatism, Postanalytic philosophy.
• Charles Taylor (born 1931). Political philosophy, Philosophy of Social Science, and Intellectual History
• John Searle (born 1932).
• Alvin Plantinga (born 1932). Reformed epistemology, Philosophy of Religion.
• Jerry Fodor (1935–2017).
• Thomas Nagel (born 1937).
• Alain Badiou (born 1937).
• Robert Nozick (1938–2002). Libertarian.
• Tom Regan (1938–2017). Animal rights philosopher.
• Saul Kripke (born 1940).
• Jean-Luc Nancy (born 1940) French philosopher.
• David K. Lewis (1941–2001). Modal realism.
• Joxe Azurmendi (born 1941). Basque Philosopher, Political philosophy, Social philosophy, Philosophy of language.
• Derek Parfit (1942–2017).
• Giorgio Agamben (born 1942). state of exception, form–of–life, and homo sacer.
• Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 1942). Postcolonialism, Feminism, Literary theory.
• Peter Singer (born 1946) Moral philosopher on animal liberation, effective altruism.
• John Ralston Saul (born 1947).
• Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born 1949).
• Slavoj Žižek (born 1949). Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis.
• Ken Wilber (born 1949). Integral Theory.
• Luc Ferry (born 1951).
• André Comte-Sponville (born 1952).
• Cornel West (born 1953).
• Judith Butler (born 1956). Poststructuralist, feminist, queer theory.
• Alexander Wendt (born 1958). Social constructivism.
• Michel Onfray (born 1959).
• Alain de Botton (born 1969).

See also

• Contemporary philosophy
• Timeline of German Idealism
• List of years in philosophy
• Category:21st-century philosophers

References

• Kemerling, Garth (2002). "Timeline of Western Philosophers". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) http://www.philosophypages.com
• LaFave, Sandra (2006). "Chronological List of Western Philosophers". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) http://lafavephilosophy.x10host.com/CRONLIST.htm
• Russell, Bertrand (1959). Wisdom of the West. London: Rathbone Books, Ltd.

External links

• Jewish Intellectual Timeline, a parallel history of Jewish and non-Jewish intellectual ideas