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 | | |
| Adolf Hurwitz | 1859-1919 | | |
| Adolf Noreen | 1854-1925 | (Gotthard) | |
| Adolf Reinach | 1883-1917 | (Bernhard, Philipp) | |
| Adolf von Harnack | 1851-1930 | (Karl, Gustav) | |
| Ahmad ibn Hanbal | 780-855 | | |
| Alain Locke | 1885-1954 | (LeRoy) | |
| Alan Turing | 1912-1954 | | |
| Albert Camus | 1913-1960 | | |
| Albert Schweitzer | 1875-1965 | | |
| Alexander von Humboldt | 1769-1859 | | |
| Alexis de Tocqueville | 1805-1859 | (Charles, Henri) | |
| Alfred Adler | 1870-1937 | | |
| Alfred Marshall | 1842-1924 | | |
| Alfred North Whitehead | 1861-1947 | | |
| Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina | 980-1037 | (Avicenna) | |
| al-Masudi | 896-956 | ('Ali) | |
| Al-Shafi'i | 767-820 | (Muhammad) | |
| Amartya Sen | 1933- | | |
| 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 | | |
| Andrew Wiles | 1953- | | |
| Andrey Kolmogorov | 1903-1987 | | |
| Anna Freud | 1895-1982 | | |
| Anselm of Canterbury | 1033-1109 | | |
| Anthony Giddens | 1938- | | |
| Apollonius of Perga | c. 262-c. 190 BC | (Apollonios) | |
| Appian of Alexandria | 95-165 | | |
| Archimedes | c. 287-c. 212 BC | | |
| Archytas | 428-347 BC | | |
| Aristotle | 384-322 BC | (Aristoteles) | |
| Arnold J. Toynbee | 1889-1975 | (Joseph) | |
| Arthur Eddington | 1882-1944 | (Stanley) | |
| Arthur Schopenhauer | 1788-1860 | | |
| Aryabhata | 476-550 | | |
| Atticus | 1xx-? | (Attikos) | |
| Auguste Comte | 1798-1857 | | |
| Augustin-Louis Cauchy | 1789-1857 | | |
| Augustine of Hippo | 354-430 | | |
| Baruch Spinoza | 1632-1677 | | |
| Ben Bernanke | 1953- | | |
| 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 Ritter | 1779-1859 | (Karl) | |
| Carl Rogers | 1902-1987 | | |
| Charles Babbage | 1791-1871 | | |
| Charles de Secondat | 1689-1755 | (Montesquieu) | |
| Charles Sanders Peirce | 1839-1914 | | |
| Christiaan Huygens | 1629-1695 | (Christian) | |
| Christopher Hitchens | 1949-2011 | | |
| Claude Shannon | 1916-2001 | | |
| Confucius | c. 551-479 BC | (Qiu) | |
| Daniel Bernoulli | 1700-1782 | | |
| Daniel Kahneman | 1934- | | |
| 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 | | |
| Mo Di | c. 470-c. 391 BC | (Mozi) | |
| Diodorus Siculus | ?-0xx BC | | |
| Diogenes of Sinope | c. 412-323 BC | | |
| Diophantus of Alexandria | c. 205-c. 290 | | |
| Donald Knuth | 1938- | | |
| Edmund Husserl | 1859-1938 | | |
| Edward Carpenter | 1844-1929 | | |
| Edward Witten | 1951- | | |
| Einhard | c. 775-840 | | |
| Hakuin Ekaku | 1686-1769 | | |
| Elinor Ostrom | 1933-2012 | | |
| Emil Cioran | 1911-1995 | (Mihai) | |
| Émile Durkheim | 1858-1917 | | |
| Emma Goldman | 1869-1940 | | |
| Emmy Noether | 1882-1935 | (Amalie) | |
| 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 | | |
| Erving Goffman | 1922-1982 | | |
| Esther Duflo | 1972- | | |
| Euclid | c. 330-275 BC | (Eukleides) | |
| Évariste Galois | 1811-1832 | | |
| Fatema Mernissi | 1940-2015 | | |
| 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 | | |
| Gautama Buddha | c. 563-c. 483 BC | (Buddha, Siddhartha) | |
| Geoffrey of Monmouth | c. 1100-c. 1155 | | |
| Geordie Williamson | 1981- | | |
| Georg Cantor | 1845-1918 | | |
| Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | 1770-1831 | | |
| Georg Simmel | 1858-1918 | | |
| George Berkeley | 1685-1753 | | |
| George Boole | 1815-1864 | | |
| G. E. Moore | 1873-1958 | (George, Edward) | |
| George Santayana | 1863-1952 | (Jorge) | |
| Georges Dumézil | 1898-1986 | | |
| Gerardus Mercator | 1512-1594 | | |
| Gerolamo Cardano | 1501-1576 | | |
| Giordano Bruno | 1548-1600 | | |
| Giovanni Domenico Cassini | 1625-1712 | | |
| G. H. Hardy | 1877-1947 | (Godfrey, Harold) | |
| Gorgias | c. 485-c. 380 BC | | |
| Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | 1646-1716 | | |
| Gottlob Frege | 1848-1925 | | |
| Graziadio Isaia Ascoli | 1829-1907 | | |
| Gregory of Tours | c. 538-594 | | |
| Grigori Perelman | 1966- | | |
| Guidobaldo del Monte | 1545-1607 | | |
| Gunnar Myrdal | 1898-1987 | | |
| Hannah Arendt | 1906-1975 | | |
| Haskell Curry | 1900-1982 | (Brooks) | |
| Hecataeus of Miletus | c. 550-c. 476 BC | (Hekataios) | |
| Helmuth Nyborg | 1937- | | |
| Héloïse | c. 1100-1163 | | |
| Henri Bergson | 1859-1941 | | |
| Henri Poincaré | 1854-1912 | (Jules) | |
| Henry David Thoreau | 1817-1862 | | |
| Heraclitus of Ephesus | c. 535-c. 475 BC | (Herakleitos) | |
| 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 | | |
| Hugo Grotius | 1583-1645 | | |
| Hypatia of Alexandria | c. 370-415 | | |
| Ibn Khaldun | 1332-1406 | (Abdur-Rahman) | |
| Immanuel Kant | 1724-1804 | | |
| Isaac Newton | 1642-1727 | | |
| Isidore of Seville | 560-636 | | |
| Jacques Derrida | 1930-2004 | (Jackie, Élie) | |
| Jacques Lacan | 1901-1981 | | |
| Ja'far al-Sadiq | 702-765 | | |
| James Gregory | 1638-1675 | | |
| Jan Hus | c. 1370-1415 | | |
| Jan Amos Komenský | 1592-1670 | (John) | |
| Jan Tinbergen | 1903-1994 | | |
| Janet Yellen | 1946- | | |
| Jean-François Champollion | 1790-1832 | | |
| Jean Chauvin | 1509-1564 | (John) | |
| Jean Piaget | 1896-1980 | | |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | 1712-1778 | | |
| Jean-Paul Sartre | 1905-1980 | | |
| Jean Tirole | 1953- | | |
| Jeremy Bentham | 1748-1832 | | |
| Jesus Christ | c. 4 BC-c. 33 | | |
| Johann Gottlieb Fichte | 1762-1814 | | |
| Johann Joachim Winckelmann | 1717-1768 | | |
| 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, Lajos) | |
| Jordan Peterson | 1962- | (Bernt) | |
| Jordanes | ?-5xx | | |
| Joseph Campbell | 1904-1987 | | |
| Joseph Fourier | 1768-1830 | | |
| Joseph Louis Lagrange | 1736-1813 | (Giuseppe, Lodovico) | |
| Joseph Schumpeter | 1883-1950 | | |
| Joseph Stiglitz | 1943- | (Eugene) | |
| Josephus | 37-c. 100 | (Titus) | |
| Josias Simmler | 1530-1576 | | |
| Judith Butler | 1956- | | |
| Jules Michelet | 1798-1874 | | |
| Karl Barth | 1886-1968 | | |
| Karl Knies | 1821-1898 | (Gustav, Adolf) | |
| Karl Marx | 1818-1883 | | |
| Karl Popper | 1902-1994 | | |
| Karl Verner | 1846-1896 | (Carl, Adolf, Adolph) | |
| Katherine Johnson | 1918-2020 | (Creola) | |
| Meng Ke | c. 372-c. 289 BC | (Mencius) | |
| Kenneth Arrow | 1921-2017 | (Joseph) | |
| Kristalina Georgieva | 1953- | | |
| Kurt Gödel | 1906-1978 | | |
| Lactantius | c. 250-c. 325 | (Lucius) | |
| Laozi | ?-5xx BC | (Lao-Tzu) | |
| Leonhard Euler | 1707-1783 | | |
| Leonid Kantorovich | 1912-1986 | | |
| Leonida Tonelli | 1885-1946 | | |
| Jean Le Rond d'Alembert | 1717-1783 | | |
| Lev Vygotsky | 1896-1934 | | |
| Livy | c. 64 BC-17 | (Titus) | |
| Ljudevit Gaj | 1809-1872 | (Ludwig) | |
| Lotfi A. Zadeh | 1921-2017 | (Aliasker) | |
| Luca Pacioli | c. 1447-1517 | | |
| Lucius Cassius Dio | c. 155-c. 235 | | |
| Lucretius | c. 99-c. 55 BC | (Titus) | |
| Ludwig von Strümpell | 1812-1899 | (Adolf, Heinrich) | |
| Ludwig Wittgenstein | 1889-1951 | | |
| L. L. Zamenhof | 1859-1917 | (Ludwik, Lejzer) | |
| Manetho | ?-2xx BC | | |
| Mani | 216-274 | | |
| Marcus Aurelius | 121-180 | | |
| Maria Gaetana Agnesi | 1718-1799 | | |
| Martha Nussbaum | 1947- | | |
| Martin Heidegger | 1889-1976 | | |
| Martin Luther | 1483-1546 | | |
| Mary Wollstonecraft | 1759-1797 | | |
| Maurice Allais | 1911-2010 | | |
| Max Müller | 1823-1900 | (Friedrich) | |
| Max Weber | 1864-1920 | (Maximilian) | |
| Mazdak | ?-c. 524 | | |
| Michel Foucault | 1926-1984 | | |
| Milton Friedman | 1912-2006 | | |
| Mircea Eliade | 1907-1986 | | |
| Moses Maimonides | 1135-1204 | (Moshe) | |
| Abu l-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd | 1126-1198 | (Averroes) | |
| 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 | (Dreses) | |
| Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi | c. 780-850 | | |
| Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Razi | 865-925 | | |
| Nagarjuna | c. 150-250 | | |
| Niccolò Machiavelli | 1469-1527 | (Nicholas) | |
| Nicholas of Cusa | 1401-1464 | | |
| Niels Henrik Abel | 1802-1829 | | |
| Nikolai Lobachevsky | 1792-1856 | | |
| Nikolay Karamzin | 1766-1826 | | |
| Noam Chomsky | 1928- | | |
| Norbert Elias | 1897-1990 | | |
| Norbert Wiener | 1894-1964 | | |
| Nouriel Roubini | 1958- | | |
| Omar Khayyám | 1048-1131 | (Umar) | |
| Origen | 184-253 | (Origenes) | |
| Oriol Junqueras i Vies | 1969- | | |
| Panini | ?-4xx BC | | |
| Parmenides of Elea | c. 515-c. 450 BC | | |
| Paul Erdős | 1913-1996 | | |
| Paul Krugman | 1953- | | |
| Paul Samuelson | 1915-2009 | (Anthony) | |
| Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach | 1723-1789 | (d'Holbach, Heinrich) | |
| Pausanias | 110-180 | | |
| Peter Wessel Zapffe | 1899-1990 | | |
| Philip Zimbardo | 1933-2024 | (George) | |
| Philo | c. 20 BC-c. 50 | | |
| Pierre Abélard | 1079-1142 | (Peter) | |
| Pierre Bourdieu | 1930-2002 | | |
| Pierre de Fermat | 1607-1665 | | |
| Pierre-Simon Laplace | 1749-1827 | | |
| Plato | c. 427-347 BC | (Platon) | |
| Plotinus | c. 205-270 | | |
| Plutarch | c. 46-120 | (Lucius) | |
| Polybius | c. 200-c. 118 BC | (Polybios) | |
| Procopius of Caesarea | 500-565 | | |
| Protagoras | c. 490-c. 420 BC | | |
| Ptolemy | c. 100-c. 168 | (Claudius) | |
| Pyotr Kropotkin | 1842-1921 | (Peter) | |
| Pyrrho | c. 360-c. 270 BC | | |
| Pythagoras | c. 580-500 BC | | |
| Sima Qian | c. 145-86 BC | (Chien) | |
| Ragnar Frisch | 1895-1973 | | |
| Srinivasa Ramanujan | 1887-1920 | | |
| Rasmus Rask | 1787-1832 | | |
| Raymond Aron | 1905-1983 | (Claude, Ferdinand) | |
| René Descartes | 1596-1650 | | |
| Robert K. Merton | 1910-2003 | (King) | |
| Rudolf Christoph Eucken | 1846-1926 | | |
| Rudolf Steiner | 1861-1925 | (Joseph, Lorenz) | |
| Rupert of Deutz | c. 1075-1129 | | |
| Ruth Bader Ginsburg | 1933-2020 | | |
| Sallust | 86-c. 35 BC | (Gaius) | |
| Sandra Day O'Connor | 1930-2023 | | |
| Seneca the Younger | 4 BC-65 | | |
| Sigmund Freud | 1856-1939 | | |
| Simon Kuznets | 1901-1985 | | |
| Simone de Beauvoir | 1908-1986 | | |
| Slavoj Žižek | 1949- | | |
| Socrates | c. 470-399 BC | (Sokrates) | |
| Sofya Kovalevskaya | 1850-1891 | (Sofia) | |
| Sophie Germain | 1776-1831 | | |
| Søren Kierkegaard | 1813-1855 | | |
| Stanley Milgram | 1933-1984 | | |
| Stefan Banach | 1892-1945 | | |
| 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 | (Quintus) | |
| 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 Kuhn | 1922-1996 | | |
| Thomas Robert Malthus | 1766-1834 | | |
| Thomas More | 1478-1535 | | |
| Thucydides | c. 460-c. 395 BC | (Thoukudides) | |
| Sun Tzu | c. 544-c. 496 BC | (Wu) | |
| Ulpian | c. 170-223 | (Gnaeus) | |
| Urbain Le Verrier | 1811-1877 | | |
| Vahakn Dadrian | 1926-2019 | | |
| Viktor Frankl | 1905-1997 | | |
| Vilfredo Pareto | 1848-1923 | | |
| Wassily Leontief | 1906-1999 | | |
| Wilhelm Reich | 1897-1957 | | |
| Wilhelm Wundt | 1832-1920 | | |
| Willard Van Orman Quine | 1908-2000 | | |
| Willebrord Snellius | 1580-1626 | | |
| 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 | | |
| Zoroaster | ?-1xxx BC | (Zarathustra) | |