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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niels Henrik Abel | 1802-1829 |  | |
| Pierre Abélard | 1079-1142 | | |
| Alfred Adler | 1870-1937 | | |
| Theodor W. Adorno | 1903-1969 | | |
| Maria Gaetana Agnesi | 1718-1799 | | |
| Ahmad ibn Hanbal | 780-855 | | |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | 1805-1859 | (Clérel, Tocqueville) | |
| Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi | c. 872-c. 950 | (Alpharabius, Farabi) | |
| Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali | 1058-1111 | (Algazel) | |
| Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina | 980-1037 | | |
| Muhammad al-Idrisi | 1099-c. 1165 | | |
| Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi | c. 780-850 | (Algoritmi) | |
| Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Kindi | 801-873 | | |
| Maurice Allais | 1911-2010 | | |
| al-Masudi | 896-956 | | |
| Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Razi | 865-925 | (Rhazes) | |
| Ja'far al-Sadiq | 702-765 | | |
| Al-Shafi'i | 767-820 | | |
| Ammianus Marcellinus | c. 325-c. 391 | | |
| Anaxagoras | c. 500-428 BC | | |
| Anaximander | c. 610-c. 546 BC | | |
| Anaximenes of Miletus | c. 585-c. 528 BC | | |
| Anselm of Canterbury | 1033-1109 | | |
| Apollonius of Perga | c. 262-c. 190 BC | | |
| Appian of Alexandria | 95-165 | | |
| Thomas Aquinas | 1225-1274 | | |
| Archimedes | c. 287-c. 212 BC | | |
| Archytas | 428-347 BC | | |
| Hannah Arendt | 1906-1975 | | |
| Aristotle | 384-322 BC | | |
| Raymond Aron | 1905-1983 | | |
| François-Marie Arouet "Voltaire" | 1694-1778 | (Voltaire) | |
| Kenneth Arrow | 1921-2017 | | |
| Aryabhata | 476-550 | | |
| Graziadio Isaia Ascoli | 1829-1907 | | |
| Atticus | 1xx-? | | |
| Augustine of Hippo | 354-430 | | |
| Charles Babbage | 1791-1871 | | |
| Francis Bacon | 1561-1626 | | |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | 1933-2020 | | |
| Stefan Banach | 1892-1945 | | |
| Karl Barth | 1886-1968 | | |
| David Benatar | 1966- | | |
| Jeremy Bentham | 1748-1832 | | |
| Henri Bergson | 1859-1941 | | |
| George Berkeley | 1685-1753 | | |
| Ben Bernanke | 1953- | | |
| Daniel Bernoulli | 1700-1782 | | |
| Boethius | 480-524 | | |
| George Boole | 1815-1864 | | |
| Pierre Bourdieu | 1930-2002 | | |
| Giordano Bruno | 1548-1600 | | |
| Judith Butler | 1956- | | |
| Joseph Campbell | 1904-1987 | | |
| Albert Camus | 1913-1960 | | |
| Georg Cantor | 1845-1918 | | |
| Gerolamo Cardano | 1501-1576 | | |
| Edward Carpenter | 1844-1929 | | |
| Giovanni Domenico Cassini | 1625-1712 | | |
| Lucius Cassius Dio | c. 155-c. 235 | | |
| Augustin-Louis Cauchy | 1789-1857 | | |
| Jean-François Champollion | 1790-1832 | | |
| Jean Chauvin | 1509-1564 | (Calvin) | |
| Noam Chomsky | 1928- | | |
| Emil Cioran | 1911-1995 | | |
| Zerah Colburn | 1804-1839 | | |
| Auguste Comte | 1798-1857 | | |
| Confucius | c. 551-479 BC | (Kong) | |
| Haskell Curry | 1900-1982 | | |
| Vahakn Dadrian | 1926-2019 | | |
| Sandra Day O'Connor | 1930-2023 | | |
| Florimond de Beaune | 1601-1652 | | |
| Simone de Beauvoir | 1908-1986 | | |
| Pierre de Fermat | 1607-1665 | | |
| Guidobaldo del Monte | 1545-1607 | | |
| Democritus | c. 460-c. 370 BC | | |
| Florimond de Raemond | 1540-1601 | (de Rémond) | |
| Jacques Derrida | 1930-2004 | | |
| Ferdinand de Saussure | 1857-1913 | | |
| René Descartes | 1596-1650 | | |
| Charles de Secondat | 1689-1755 | | |
| John Dewey | 1859-1952 | | |
| Denis Diderot | 1713-1784 | | |
| Diogenes of Sinope | c. 412-323 BC | | |
| Diophantus of Alexandria | c. 205-c. 290 | | |
| Esther Duflo | 1972- | | |
| Georges Dumézil | 1898-1986 | | |
| Émile Durkheim | 1858-1917 | | |
| Freeman Dyson | 1923-2020 | | |
| Arthur Eddington | 1882-1944 | | |
| Einhard | c. 775-840 | | |
| Mircea Eliade | 1907-1986 | | |
| Norbert Elias | 1897-1990 | | |
| Empedocles | c. 490-430 BC | | |
| Friedrich Engels | 1820-1895 | | |
| Epictetus | c. 55-c. 135 | | |
| Epicurus | 341-270 BC | | |
| Desiderius Erasmus | 1466-1536 | | |
| Eratosthenes of Cyrene | c. 276-c. 195 BC | | |
| Paul Erdős | 1913-1996 | | |
| Erik Erikson | 1902-1994 | | |
| Rudolf Christoph Eucken | 1846-1926 | | |
| Euclid | c. 330-275 BC | | |
| Leonhard Euler | 1707-1783 | | |
| Fibonacci | c. 1170-c. 1250 | (Bonacci) | |
| Johann Gottlieb Fichte | 1762-1814 | | |
| Michel Foucault | 1926-1984 | | |
| Joseph Fourier | 1768-1830 | | |
| Abraham Fraenkel | 1891-1965 | | |
| Francis of Assisi | c. 1182-1226 | | |
| Viktor Frankl | 1905-1997 | | |
| Gottlob Frege | 1848-1925 | | |
| Anna Freud | 1895-1982 | | |
| Sigmund Freud | 1856-1939 | | |
| Milton Friedman | 1912-2006 | | |
| Ragnar Frisch | 1895-1973 | | |
| Erich Fromm | 1900-1980 | | |
| Ljudevit Gaj | 1809-1872 | (Gay) | |
| Évariste Galois | 1811-1832 | | |
| Carl Friedrich Gauss | 1777-1855 | | |
| Gautama Buddha | c. 563-c. 483 BC | | |
| Geoffrey of Monmouth | c. 1100-c. 1155 | | |
| Kristalina Georgieva | 1953- | (Kinova) | |
| Sophie Germain | 1776-1831 | | |
| Anthony Giddens | 1938- | | |
| Kurt Gödel | 1906-1978 | | |
| Erving Goffman | 1922-1982 | | |
| Emma Goldman | 1869-1940 | | |
| Franciscus Gomarus | 1563-1641 | (Gomaer) | |
| Gorgias | c. 485-c. 380 BC | | |
| Gregory of Tours | c. 538-594 | | |
| James Gregory | 1638-1675 | | |
| Hugo Grotius | 1583-1645 | | |
| Hakuin Ekaku | 1686-1769 | | |
| G. H. Hardy | 1877-1947 | | |
| Friedrich Hayek | 1899-1992 | | |
| Hecataeus of Miletus | c. 550-c. 476 BC | | |
| Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | 1770-1831 | | |
| Martin Heidegger | 1889-1976 | | |
| Héloïse | c. 1100-1163 | | |
| Heraclitus of Ephesus | c. 535-c. 475 BC | | |
| Hero of Alexandria | 10-70 | | |
| Herodotus | c. 484-425 BC | | |
| David Hilbert | 1862-1943 | | |
| Hipparchus of Nicaea | c. 190-c. 120 BC | | |
| Christopher Hitchens | 1949-2011 | | |
| Thomas Hobbes | 1588-1679 | | |
| David Hume | 1711-1776 | | |
| Adolf Hurwitz | 1859-1919 | | |
| Jan Hus | c. 1370-1415 | | |
| Edmund Husserl | 1859-1938 | | |
| Christiaan Huygens | 1629-1695 | | |
| Hypatia of Alexandria | c. 370-415 | | |
| Ibn Khaldun | 1332-1406 | | |
| Isidore of Seville | 560-636 | | |
| William James | 1842-1910 | | |
| Jean Le Rond d'Alembert | 1717-1783 | | |
| Jesus Christ | c. 4 BC-c. 33 | | |
| John Duns Scotus | c. 1266-1308 | | |
| Katherine Johnson | 1918-2020 | (Coleman) | |
| Jordanes | ?-5xx | | |
| Josephus | 37-c. 100 | (Flavius) | |
| Carl Jung | 1875-1961 | | |
| Oriol Junqueras i Vies | 1969- | | |
| Daniel Kahneman | 1934- | | |
| Immanuel Kant | 1724-1804 | | |
| Leonid Kantorovich | 1912-1986 | | |
| Nikolay Karamzin | 1766-1826 | | |
| John Maynard Keynes | 1883-1946 | | |
| Omar Khayyám | 1048-1131 | | |
| Søren Kierkegaard | 1813-1855 | | |
| Karl Knies | 1821-1898 | | |
| Donald Knuth | 1938- | | |
| Andrey Kolmogorov | 1903-1987 | | |
| Jan Amos Komenský | 1592-1670 | (Comenius) | |
| Sofya Kovalevskaya | 1850-1891 | | |
| Pyotr Kropotkin | 1842-1921 | | |
| Paul Krugman | 1953- | | |
| Thomas Kuhn | 1922-1996 | | |
| Simon Kuznets | 1901-1985 | | |
| Jacques Lacan | 1901-1981 | | |
| Lactantius | c. 250-c. 325 | (Caecilius, Firmianus) | |
| Joseph Louis Lagrange | 1736-1813 | (Lagrangia) | |
| Laozi | ?-5xx BC | | |
| Pierre-Simon Laplace | 1749-1827 | | |
| Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | 1646-1716 | | |
| Wassily Leontief | 1906-1999 | | |
| Urbain Le Verrier | 1811-1877 | | |
| Livy | c. 64 BC-17 | (Livius, Patavinus) | |
| Nikolai Lobachevsky | 1792-1856 | | |
| Alain Locke | 1885-1954 | | |
| John Locke | 1632-1704 | | |
| Ada Lovelace | 1815-1852 | | |
| Lucretius | c. 99-c. 55 BC | (Carus) | |
| Martin Luther | 1483-1546 | | |
| Niccolò Machiavelli | 1469-1527 | (Machiavel) | |
| Moses Maimonides | 1135-1204 | | |
| Thomas Robert Malthus | 1766-1834 | | |
| Benoit Mandelbrot | 1924-2010 | | |
| Manetho | ?-2xx BC | | |
| Mani | 216-274 | | |
| Marcus Aurelius | 121-180 | | |
| Alfred Marshall | 1842-1924 | | |
| Karl Marx | 1818-1883 | | |
| Abraham Maslow | 1908-1970 | | |
| Mazdak | ?-c. 524 | | |
| Meng Ke | c. 372-c. 289 BC | | |
| Gerardus Mercator | 1512-1594 | | |
| Fatema Mernissi | 1940-2015 | | |
| Robert K. Merton | 1910-2003 | | |
| Jules Michelet | 1798-1874 | | |
| Stanley Milgram | 1933-1984 | | |
| John Stuart Mill | 1806-1873 | | |
| Ferdinand Minding | 1806-1885 | | |
| Mo Di | c. 470-c. 391 BC | | |
| Theodor Mommsen | 1817-1903 | | |
| G. E. Moore | 1873-1958 | | |
| Thomas More | 1478-1535 | | |
| Abu l-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd | 1126-1198 | | |
| Muhammad | 570-632 | | |
| Max Müller | 1823-1900 | | |
| Gunnar Myrdal | 1898-1987 | | |
| Nagarjuna | c. 150-250 | | |
| John Napier | 1550-1617 | | |
| John Forbes Nash Jr. | 1928-2015 | | |
| Isaac Newton | 1642-1727 | | |
| Nicholas of Cusa | 1401-1464 | | |
| Friedrich Nietzsche | 1844-1900 | | |
| Emmy Noether | 1882-1935 | | |
| Adolf Noreen | 1854-1925 | | |
| Martha Nussbaum | 1947- | | |
| Helmuth Nyborg | 1937- | | |
| Origen | 184-253 | | |
| Elinor Ostrom | 1933-2012 | | |
| Luca Pacioli | c. 1447-1517 | | |
| Panini | ?-4xx BC | | |
| Vilfredo Pareto | 1848-1923 | | |
| Parmenides of Elea | c. 515-c. 450 BC | | |
| Talcott Parsons | 1902-1979 | | |
| Blaise Pascal | 1623-1662 | | |
| Pausanias | 110-180 | | |
| Charles Sanders Peirce | 1839-1914 | | |
| Grigori Perelman | 1966- | | |
| Jordan Peterson | 1962- | | |
| Philo | c. 20 BC-c. 50 | | |
| Jean Piaget | 1896-1980 | | |
| Plato | c. 427-347 BC | | |
| Plotinus | c. 205-270 | | |
| Plutarch | c. 46-120 | (Mestrius, Plutarchus) | |
| Henri Poincaré | 1854-1912 | | |
| Polybius | c. 200-c. 118 BC | | |
| Karl Popper | 1902-1994 | | |
| Procopius of Caesarea | 500-565 | | |
| Protagoras | c. 490-c. 420 BC | | |
| Ptolemy | c. 100-c. 168 | (Ptolemaeus) | |
| Pyrrho | c. 360-c. 270 BC | | |
| Pythagoras | c. 580-500 BC | | |
| Willard Van Orman Quine | 1908-2000 | | |
| Srinivasa Ramanujan | 1887-1920 | | |
| Rasmus Rask | 1787-1832 | | |
| Wilhelm Reich | 1897-1957 | | |
| Adolf Reinach | 1883-1917 | | |
| David Ricardo | 1772-1823 | | |
| Bernhard Riemann | 1826-1866 | | |
| David Rittenhouse | 1732-1796 | | |
| Carl Ritter | 1779-1859 | | |
| Carl Rogers | 1902-1987 | | |
| Nouriel Roubini | 1958- | | |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | 1712-1778 | | |
| Rupert of Deutz | c. 1075-1129 | | |
| Bertrand Russell | 1872-1970 | | |
| Sallust | 86-c. 35 BC | (Sallustius, Crispus) | |
| Paul Samuelson | 1915-2009 | | |
| George Santayana | 1863-1952 | | |
| Jean-Paul Sartre | 1905-1980 | | |
| Hjalmar Schacht | 1877-1970 | | |
| Arthur Schopenhauer | 1788-1860 | | |
| Joseph Schumpeter | 1883-1950 | | |
| Albert Schweitzer | 1875-1965 | | |
| Amartya Sen | 1933- | | |
| Seneca the Younger | 4 BC-65 | | |
| Claude Shannon | 1916-2001 | | |
| Diodorus Siculus | ?-0xx BC | | |
| Sima Qian | c. 145-86 BC | (Szu-ma) | |
| Georg Simmel | 1858-1918 | | |
| Josias Simmler | 1530-1576 | (Simler) | |
| Ferdo Šišić | 1869-1940 | | |
| B. F. Skinner | 1904-1990 | | |
| Adam Smith | 1723-1790 | | |
| Willebrord Snellius | 1580-1626 | (Snel van Royen) | |
| Socrates | c. 470-399 BC | | |
| Baruch Spinoza | 1632-1677 | | |
| Rudolf Steiner | 1861-1925 | | |
| Joseph Stiglitz | 1943- | | |
| Svetozar Stojanović | 1931-2010 | | |
| Strabo | c. 64 BC-c. 24 | | |
| Hew Strachan | 1949- | | |
| Suetonius | 69-122 | (Tranquillus) | |
| Sun Tzu | c. 544-c. 496 BC | | |
| Tacitus | c. 56-c. 117 | (Cornelius) | |
| Tertullian | c. 160-c. 225 | (Septimius, Florens, Tertullianus) | |
| Thales | c. 624-c. 546 BC | | |
| Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach | 1723-1789 | (Dietrich) | |
| Henry David Thoreau | 1817-1862 | | |
| Thucydides | c. 460-c. 395 BC | | |
| Jan Tinbergen | 1903-1994 | | |
| Jean Tirole | 1953- | | |
| Leonida Tonelli | 1885-1946 | | |
| Arnold J. Toynbee | 1889-1975 | | |
| Alan Turing | 1912-1954 | | |
| Ulpian | c. 170-223 | (Domitius, Annius, Ulpianus) | |
| Karl Verner | 1846-1896 | (Werner) | |
| Adolf von Harnack | 1851-1930 | (Harnack) | |
| Alexander von Humboldt | 1769-1859 | | |
| John von Neumann | 1903-1957 | (Neumann) | |
| Ludwig von Strümpell | 1812-1899 | (Strümpell) | |
| Lev Vygotsky | 1896-1934 | | |
| Max Weber | 1864-1920 | | |
| Alfred North Whitehead | 1861-1947 | | |
| Norbert Wiener | 1894-1964 | | |
| Andrew Wiles | 1953- | | |
| William of Ockham | c. 1287-1347 | | |
| Geordie Williamson | 1981- | | |
| Johann Joachim Winckelmann | 1717-1768 | | |
| Edward Witten | 1951- | | |
| Ludwig Wittgenstein | 1889-1951 | | |
| Mary Wollstonecraft | 1759-1797 | | |
| Wilhelm Wundt | 1832-1920 | | |
| Xenophanes of Colophon | c. 570-c. 475 BC | | |
| Xenophon | c. 427-c. 355 BC | | |
| Janet Yellen | 1946- | | |
| Lotfi A. Zadeh | 1921-2017 | | |
| L. L. Zamenhof | 1859-1917 | | |
| Peter Wessel Zapffe | 1899-1990 | | |
| Zeno of Citium | c. 334-c. 262 BC | | |
| Zeno of Elea | c. 490-c. 430 BC | | |
| Philip Zimbardo | 1933-2024 | | |
| Slavoj Žižek | 1949- | | |
| Zoroaster | ?-1xxx BC | |