Philosophy Figures Flashcards
St. Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274) 13th century Christian philosopher. Wrote “The Five Ways,” which outlined five proofs for the existence of God.
Aristotle
(384-322 B.C.E.) Plato’s student who criticized the theory of Forms and developed a systematized logic.
Augustine of Hippo
(354-430) 4th- and 5th- century bishop, philosopher, and neoplatonist.
George Berkley
(1685-1753) Irish idealist philosopher who viewed mental representations and impressions as fundamental.
René Descartes
(1596-1650) Important French rationalist philosopher and mathematician. Saw mind and body as distinct (Cartesian dualism). He is also famous for the quote “I think, therefore I am.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
(1770-1831) German idealist philosopher known for his theory of dialectic: “The thesis combines with the antithesis to form the synthesis of the two.” Also known for his teleological orientation.
Martin Heidegger
(1889-1976) German philosopher who had a major influence on existentialism.
Thomas Hobbes
(1588-1679) British materialist philosopher who viewed human existence as “nasty, brutish, and short.”
David Hume
(1711-1776) Scottish empiricist philosopher. Questioned the necessity of the connection between cause and effect.
Edmund Husserl
(1859-1938) German philosopher known as the father of phenomenology.
William James
(1842-1910) American empiricist philosopher and psychologist. Known for his description of the flow of ideas as a “stream of consciousness.”
Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804) German idealist philosopher best known for the “categorical imperative,” which states that a moral agent acts only in ways that could become universal laws.
Søren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855) Danish existentialist philosopher.
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz
(1646-1716) German rationalist philosopher and mathematician.
John Locke
(1632-1704) English empiricist philosopher who put forth many of the basic ideas of empiricism, including tabula rasa. Important figure in Age of Enlightenment.
John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873) English empiricist philosopher known for his ethical writings on utilitarianism.
Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900) German philosopher best known for his concept of the Ubermensch (superman).
William of Occam
(c. 1285-c. 1349) Fourteenth-century English philosopher who developed the notion of “parsimony.” According to Occam’s Razor, simpler explanations are preferable to more complex ones.
Blaise Pascal
(1623-1662) French philosopher, mathematician, and theologian best known for “Pascal’s Bargain,” which argues for believe in the existence of God.
Plato
(c. 427-347 B.C.E.) Greek philosopher who studied under Socrates and developed a theory of Forms in which things in this world are mere reflections or shadows of objects of knowledge, which are universals. His writings form the basis of much of Western philosophy.
Pythagoras
(c. 570-c. 495 B.C.E.) Pre-Socratic philosopher and mathematician.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
(1712-1778) French Romantic philosopher and philosopher of education.
Bertrand Russell
(1872-1970) British philosopher and linguist.
Gilbert Ryle
(1900-1976)British philosopher of language and logical positivist.
Jean Paul Sartre
(1905-1980) French existentialist philosopher.
Socrates
(c. 470-399 B.C.E.) Greek philosopher whose oral teachings were transcribed in part by his student, Plato.
St. Anselm of Canterbury
(c. 1033-1109) Christian philosopher. Developed an ontological argument for the existence of God.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
(1889-1951) Austrian philosopher who began as a logical positivist and later developed important ideas in the philosophy of language.
