Philosophers

• 1.
  

  Albert Camus

  Albert Camus (French pronunciation: [albɛʁ kamy]) (7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1957. He is often ...

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  Pros: Any man devoted to the study of the absurd gets my vote.
• 2.
  

  Aristotle

  Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music ...

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  Pros: Aristotle is a great read. He writes clearly, and his ideas are (still) incredibly relevant to modern life. His work, along with Plato's, is a prerequisite to understanding ...
• 3.
  

  Marcus Aurelius

  Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until ...

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• 4.
  

  Plato

  Plato (428/427 BC - 348/347 BC), was a Classical Greek philosopher, who, together with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy ...

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  Pros: Big Brother of Hegel and Marx. I like to imagine I'm a philosopher-king. Cons: Beware of Grand Philosophical Attempts to produce the Good Society ...
• 5.
  

  Epicurus

  For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by aponia, the absence of pain and fear, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by ...

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  Pros: The grandfather of modern day materialists and atheists. A healthy and sensible philosophy of life. Cons: Most people misunterstand him as some kind of hedonist bon ...
• 6.
  

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, using ...

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  Pros: Nietzsche is simply fun to read. His work is insightful, lucid, and interesting. Cons: His outrageous claims (which, generally, are meant to inspire _thought_ ...
• 7.
  

  Voltaire

  François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties, including ...

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• 8.
  

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778) was a major Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the Enlightenment, whose political philosophy influenced the French Revolution and the development of liberal, conservative, and socialist ...

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  Pros: A cultivated look at nature.
• 9.
  

  Søren Kierkegaard

  Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, is usually thought of as the first existentialist philosopher.
  
  He wrote many philosophical books about faith, existence, emotions ...

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  Pros: Not a bad list--hard hitters Cons: The order for me was wrong.
• 10.
  

  Bertrand Russell

  Russell is generally recognised as one of the founders of analytic philosophy, even of its several branches. Russell and Moore strove to eliminate what they saw as meaningless and incoherent ...

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  Pros: Clear and powerful thinker. Prolific writer Cons: A little unilateral in his reliance on formal logic

Displaying 1-10 of 110 philosophers