Philosophers

Traditionally counted the first Greek philosopher, he held that water is the origin of all things.

Ephesian thinker who held that everything is in flux, that opposites form a unity, and that change is governed by a rational principle, the logos.

Author of a metaphysical poem arguing that what is cannot come to be or pass away, so that change and plurality are illusions of the senses.

Athenian who wrote nothing but, through relentless questioning about how to live, became the founding figure of Western moral philosophy.

Student of Socrates and founder of the Academy, whose dialogues range across ethics, politics, knowledge and reality, and introduce the theory of Forms.

Plato's student, who systematised logic and wrote on nearly every field of knowledge, from biology and physics to ethics, politics and metaphysics.

Taught that the good life is one of tranquil pleasure, free from fear of the gods and of death, and explained the world as atoms moving in the void.

Roman emperor and Stoic whose private notebook, the Meditations, shows him trying to live by the Stoic view that virtue is the only good.

Founder of Neoplatonism, who taught that all reality flows from a single, indescribable source, the One, and that the soul can return to it.

Bishop of Hippo whose writings on sin, grace, free will and time made him the most influential Christian thinker of late antiquity and the Latin Middle Ages.

Dominican friar and theologian who combined Aristotle's philosophy with Christian doctrine in the most influential synthesis of medieval scholasticism.

Franciscan logician and nominalist, remembered for "Ockham's Razor", the principle that we should not assume more entities than we need.

Often called the father of modern philosophy, he sought certain foundations for knowledge through methodical doubt and the insight 'I think, therefore I am'.

Rationalist who identified God with Nature and set out his ethics in the form of geometrical proofs.

Scottish empiricist and sceptic who argued that our beliefs about cause and effect rest on habit rather than reason.

Argued that the mind actively structures experience, reconciling rationalism and empiricism, and grounded morality in the rational will.

Called the 'Second Teacher' after Aristotle, he established the Arabic tradition of Aristotelian logic and wrote on the ideal, virtuous city.

Philosopher and physician who built a comprehensive system from Aristotelian and Neoplatonic ideas, known for the distinction between essence and existence.

Andalusian judge and philosopher whose commentaries on Aristotle earned him the title 'the Commentator' in medieval Europe.

Buddhist philosopher who founded the Madhyamaka ('middle way') school, arguing that all things are empty of intrinsic nature.

Semi-legendary sage traditionally credited with the Daodejing, the founding text of Daoism, which counsels living in harmony with the dao through simplicity and non-action.

Teacher and would-be adviser to rulers, whose sayings about virtue, ritual and good government became the foundation of Confucianism.

Founder of Mohism, who argued for impartial care for everyone and against offensive war, and was the first Chinese thinker to argue systematically for his views.

Known as the 'Second Sage' of Confucianism, he argued that human nature is good and that virtue grows from innate moral sprouts.

Daoist thinker whose playful, paradoxical stories question fixed points of view and celebrate a spontaneous, free-flowing way of life.

The leading Neo-Confucian philosopher, whose synthesis and commentaries on the Four Books became the basis of Chinese state examinations for centuries.