The 15 greatest philosophers in history: thought and works

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We have prepared a list of some of the most important philosophers in history. These thinkers were authors of works that influenced the thought and all of Western culture.

1. Tales of Miletus

Thales (c. 624-546 a. C.) was born in the city of Mileto, in ancient Greece. Thales is considered the first philosopher. His work aims to seek rational explanations for the universe, giving rise to philosophy.

He also devoted himself to mathematics, creating the theorem that bears his name (Thales' Theorem), in which he demonstrates proportionality relations of a bundle of parallel lines cut by transversal lines.

In philosophy, the search for the essence of the universe (physis), made him define water as the primordial element that constitutes everything that exists in nature.

Learn more at Miletus Tales.

2. heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus (540-470 a. C.), the Obscure, was a Greek philosopher who developed his philosophy based on time.

According to Heraclitus, all things are situated in time and thus everything is in motion, everything is in constant change. What is new grows old; what is alive dies; the seed turns into a tree; the baby becomes an old man.

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Thus, the world can only be understood from this condition called becoming. Becoming is the condition of everything that exists, everything that exists in nature and is constantly changing.

Thus, unlike Thales, the philosopher chose fire as the primordial element because it is an element that he transforms everything he touches and, for him, all things change because they have fire in their composition.

Main work of Heraclitus:About Nature.

3. Parmenides

Parmenides of Elea (530-460 a. C.) developed his thought in opposition to the thought of Heraclitus. For him, movement is an illusion caused by the senses. In fact, nothing changes, everything remains.

In other words, the essence of things is permanent, unaffected by time. Parmenides claims that if things did not have permanence and change all the time, nothing could be known and knowledge would be impossible.

For Parmenides, everything that can be thought exists, since non-being cannot be thought of. It is not possible to think about what does not exist. Thus, the change would be false, based on the idea of what is (being) changing to what is not (non-being).

Parmenides' main work is fragments, a collection of recovered parts of his writings.

Learn more at: Parmenides.

4. Socrates

Socrates (469-399 a. C.), despite not being the first philosopher, he is known as the “father of philosophy”.

It was responsible for a change in the way of doing philosophy. He dedicated himself to thinking about human relationships and reflecting on the conditions of his own thinking.

This transformation broke with the young tradition of philosophy that was dedicated to understanding nature and the universe.

With that, Socrates inaugurated the anthropological period of philosophy - the knowledge about the human being, making the transition from the previous period called the cosmological - knowledge about the cosmos (universe).

For Socrates, the knowledge of people, even the sages, was partial, as it was based on the opinion and authority of those who claimed to be sages, and not on rational thought.

For his critical attitude towards knowledge, for questioning and infuriating the powerful of Athens, Socrates was sentenced to death, accused of attacking the Greek gods and corrupting the youth of Athenian. Socrates' trial is described in the book the republic, by Plato.

No work by Socrates was written, he believed that writing plastered thought and that true philosophy was made from reflection.

Thus, everything that is known about Socratic thought is mediated by its critics, such as Aristophanes and his disciples Xenophon and, above all, Plato.

Some scholars question whether, in fact, Socrates existed or is an amalgamation of several people at the time or a character created to personify and exemplify some ideas.

Interested? See more at:

Socrates
Socratic method: irony and maieutics
I only know that I know nothing
know yourself

5. Plato

Plato was the main disciple of Socrates, thinking of him is one of the pillars of Western culture.

The theories developed by Plato, above all, his world of ideas - the distinction between appearance and essence - define thought and soul as being superior to the senses and the body.

Thus, Plato creates his so-called dualism, division of the world in two, between the world of ideas and the sensible world:

World of Ideas (intelligible world) - Place where ideas reside, the essences of things, which can only be known through the reason. Place of soul, purity and truth.
Sensitive World - Place of imitations of ideas, where the things that are known through the senses. Place of body, error and opinion.

Plato, influenced by Socrates, wrote his works in dialogue form, his main works are:

the republic
The banquet
Phaedo
Gorgias
Theaetetus
Timaeus

Learn more about Plato at:

Plato
Platonism, the philosophy of Plato
Plato's Dialectic
the republic of Plato
The Myth of the Cave

6. Aristotle

Aristotle was a critical disciple of Plato. The philosopher became well known in the ancient world, even becoming the teacher of Emperor Alexander the Great.

Aristotle's production is very vast, his writings have as themes: ethics, politics, logic, physics, poetics, rhetoric, etc.

Unlike Plato, Aristotle claimed that knowledge begins in the senses, but that they can evolve into rational thought.

His writings on politics assert that human beings are determined by nature to live in society.

Thus, for Aristotle, doing politics is what differentiates human beings from other animals.

In the field of ethics, the philosopher believed that the goal of human life was happiness and Good, which could only be achieved through knowledge and practice of the virtues.

Aristotle also contributed to the development of logic as "an instrument for correct thinking", even today, Aristotelian logic is the basis for scientific knowledge.

Main works by Aristotle:

Politics
Poetics
Ethics to Nicomachus
Organon

See more about Aristotelian philosophy at:

Aristotle
Aristotelian logic
Aristotle's Ethics

7. Saint Augustine

Augustine of Hippo (354-430 d. C) was an important thinker of Christian philosophy developed in the Middle Ages.

The philosopher sought to unite the tradition of Greek philosophy developed in a polytheistic period, in which many gods were believed, with the Christian religion, monotheistic (belief in only one God).

For this, Augustine of Hippo, based on the thought of Plato. Plato's distinction between appearance (false) and essence (true) and the understanding of the soul as being superior and purer than the body served as the basis for the development of Christian doctrine.

Thus, the search for truth through reason, found in Plato's thought, became the search for knowledge based on the faith of St. Augustine.

The philosopher is the great representative of a period of philosophy called "patristic", as it was developed by the Church fathers.

Main Works of Saint Augustine:

Confessions (400 d. Ç.)
The City of God (426 d. Ç.)

See more at:

Saint Augustine (Augustine of Hippo)
Patristic Philosophy

8. Saint Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) was the leading philosopher of the period of scholastic philosophy. Like Augustine of Hippo who rescued the thought of Plato and linked it to the Christian religion, Thomas Aquinas based his Christian philosophy on the thought of Aristotle.

Throughout his work, the philosopher sought to create logical foundations for the Christian faith. The union between logic and faith is an important mark of the period and can be seen in the work Five proofs of the existence of God.

The main work of Saint Thomas Aquinas is the Theological summary. (1273).

Learn more at:

Saint Thomas Aquinas
Scholastic Philosophy

9. Machiavelli

The philosopher Machiavelli marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age.

His main work, the book The prince, is a revolution in thinking about politics. In it, the philosopher separates the traditional conception of morality that guides the actions of individuals from the reason that must guide the actions of governments.

What can be understood as good and a quality of an individual can be bad and represent a weakness for the prince. Machiavelli's thought is given the phrase that “the ends justify the means”.

Machiavelli's main work is O Prince (1532).

Interested? See more at:

Machiavelli
The prince of Machiavelli

10. discards

Philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) is known as the “father of modern thought”. It is with Descartes that rational thought reaches the level of superiority to other forms of understanding and thus inaugurates the stream of rationalism.

He developed a method (Cartesian method) which served as the basis for the development of science. The Cartesian method is based on four steps:

Check - see if what you want to study is real.
Analyze - break the object to be known into parts that are simple to understand.
Synthesize - regroup the knowledge gained into a true and essential whole.
Enumerate - define and complete all the knowledge that can be extracted from the studied object.

Descartes' main work is the Discourse on the Method (1637). In it, the philosopher develops the principle of doubt as a method for knowledge (methodical doubt).

Descartes looks for something concrete that can serve as a basis for knowledge and, thus, doubts everything that might exist until reaching the fundamental certainty: the cogito.

The cogito ("I think, therefore I am") is the foundation for all knowledge, everything that exists can be questioned, unless it can be doubted. To doubt something it is necessary to think and to think it is necessary to exist.

See more at: discards.

11. Locke

John Locke (1632–1704) is known as the 'father of liberalism', who defined the right to property as a natural right of human beings.

The philosopher, with an empiricist base, created the theory of the human being as a blank slate, a blank sheet that is being filled in through his life experiences. Experience becomes the basis for thinking and the starting point for knowledge.

He was also responsible for the development of the theory of laws and the emergence of the state. For Locke, human beings live in community and this shared experience is a source of dispute, disputes between people, these disputes can only be resolved by a third party who can act as a judge.

Thus, the State appears as a regulator of society, as a guarantor of freedom and fundamental rights, above all, the right to private property. Individuals enter into a "social contract" in which they live under the rules of the state.

This theory belongs to a current of thought called contractualism.

John Locke's main work is the Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).

See too:

John Locke
Contractualism
The State of Nature for Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau

12. Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) is one of the leading philosophers of the Modern Age. He sought to create a revolution in philosophical knowledge just as Copernicus had done in physics.

Influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, he demonstrated the importance of education and for the enlightenment and moral autonomy of individuals.

For this, Kant sought to unite empiricist and rationalist conceptions and create a new understanding of reason and the limits of human knowledge.

In the field of Ethics, Kant sought to base morality on reason itself, no longer on external agents such as religion, and create rules for its development.

Main works by Immanuel Kant:

Critique of Pure Reason (1781)
Foundation of Moral Metaphysics (1785)
Critique of Practical Reason (1788)
Critique of the Faculty of Judgment (1790)

See too:

Immanuel Kant
Kant's Ethics and the Categorical Imperative

13. Hegel

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) was a German idealist philosopher. It is considered a hallmark of modern philosophy and an influence on all subsequent thought.

His thought is centered on the figure of being, the subject, who understands himself and everything that exists through his dialectical structure: thesis, antithesis and synthesis:

Thesis: what is said or thought.
Antithesis: the opposite of the thesis.
Synthesis: union between opposites and formation of a new thesis.

Hegel's main work is the Phenomenology of Spirit (1807)

14. Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German thinker who was dedicated to harshly criticizing the philosophical tradition and Western culture, above all, Judeo-Christian morals.

Much of his work is developed through aphorisms, short sentences that convey an idea or precept, perhaps this makes the author have many known phrases.

For the philosopher, the Judeo-Christian culture is the denial of life because it is based on death and contempt for the body.

His philosophy sought to value the human being just like him. Nietzsche affirms the need for the individual to overcome himself, breaking the bonds of the "herd morality", as he called Christian morality.

This overcoming would lead the human being to become the superman or the beyond man (ubermensch, in German) and “living life like a work of art”.

Main works by Friedrich Nietzsche:

The Birth of Tragedy (1872)
Human, Too Human (1878)
Gaia Science (1882)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883)
Beyond Good and Evil (1886)
Genealogy of Morals (1887)

See too: Nietzsche.

15. Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) was a feminist philosopher of French existentialism. his book, the second sex, is one of the main works of the 20th century. In it, the philosopher develops a critical theory of society that denies women as a subject.

For her, in the traditional perspective, the man is taken as the universal human being, while the woman is pushed into a condition of subordination, like the other, the non-man, the second sex.

With this, the author reinforces the existentialist idea that women, as human beings, do not have a predetermined essence. It is from experience that you build your own being.

Main works by Simone de Beauvoir: