Epicurus (341–270 BCE)
Epicurus taught that happiness arises from simple pleasures, friendship, and freedom from fear. His works, like Letter to Menoeceus, emphasize atomism, hedonism, and achieving tranquility through rational living.
Read MoreEpicurus (341–270 BCE)
Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
Aristotle, a student of Plato, emphasized empirical observation and logic. His works, including Nicomachean Ethics and Metaphysics, explore virtue, causality, and the nature of being, profoundly shaping Western philosophy and science.
Diogenes of Sinope (412 – 323 BCE)
Diogenes of Sinope, a Cynic philosopher, rejected social conventions and materialism, advocating self-sufficiency and virtue. Known for his ascetic lifestyle, his ideas, preserved through anecdotes, emphasize living in accordance with nature.
Plato (428 – 348 BCE)
Plato, a student of Socrates, founded the Academy and developed idealism, asserting that reality consists of eternal Forms. His dialogues, including The Republic and The Symposium, explore justice, knowledge, and the soul.
Euclid of Megara (450 – 380 BCE)
Euclid of Megara, a student of Socrates, merged Eleatic and Socratic thought, emphasizing the unity of goodness. His lost works influenced Stoicism, advocating that true knowledge stems from reason and virtue.
Democritus (460 – 370 BCE)
Democritus, the "father of atomism," proposed that reality consists of indivisible atoms moving in a void. His works, largely lost, influenced materialism and ethics, emphasizing cheerfulness (eudaimonia) as life’s goal.
Hippias of Elis (460 – 400 BCE)
Hippias of Elis, a Sophist, promoted practical knowledge and intellectual versatility. Known for his memory and rhetoric, he appears in Plato’s Hippias Major and Hippias Minor, discussing truth, beauty, and virtue.
Socrates (470 – 399 BCE)
Socrates, a foundational Western philosopher, emphasized ethics, self-examination, and the Socratic method. Rejecting written works, his ideas survive through Plato’s dialogues, questioning virtue, knowledge, and the examined life’s importance.
Thales of Miletus (624 – 546 BCE)
Thales of Miletus, a pre-Socratic philosopher, is considered the first Western philosopher. He proposed water as the universe’s fundamental substance and pioneered scientific inquiry.
Gorgias of Leontini (485 – 380 BCE)
Gorgias of Leontini, a Sophist, argued that nothing exists, or if it does, it’s unknowable. His work, On Non-Existence, showcases his radical skepticism and rhetorical mastery, emphasizing persuasion over absolute truth.
Zeno of Elea (490 – 430 BCE)
Zeno of Elea, a disciple of Parmenides, is famous for his paradoxes, which challenge motion and plurality. His arguments, preserved in Aristotle’s works, defend monism by revealing contradictions in sensory-based reasoning.
Protagoras (490 – 420 BCE)
Protagoras, a Sophist, claimed “Man is the measure of all things,” emphasizing relativism and subjective truth. His lost works, including Truth and On the Gods, explored ethics, rhetoric, and human perception.
