Timeline of Eastern | Western philosophers This is a list of philosophers from the Western tradition of philosophy.

Western philosophers

Ancient Greece

600–500 BC Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 546 BC). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of water. Pherecydes of Syros (c. 620 – c. 550 BC). Cosmologist. Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 – 546 BC). Of the Milesian school. Famous for the concept of Apeiron, or "the boundless". Anaximenes of Miletus (c. 585 – 525 BC). Of the Milesian school. Believed that all was made of air. Pythagoras of Samos (c. 580 – c. 500 BC). Of the Ionian School. Believed the deepest reality to be composed of numbers, and that souls are immortal. Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570 – 480 BC). Advocated monotheism. Sometimes associated with the Eleatic school. Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BC). Of the Ionians. Emphasized the mutability of the universe. Epicharmus of Kos (c. 530 – 450 BC). Comic playwright and moralist. Parmenides of Elea (c. 515 – 450 BC). Of the Eleatics. Reflected on the concept of Being. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (c. 500 – 428 BC). Of the Ionians. Pluralist.

400 BC Empedocles (492 – 432 BC). Eclectic cosmogonist. Pluralist. Zeno of Elea (c. 490 – 430 BC). Of the Eleatics. Known for his paradoxes. Gorgias. (c. 483 – 375 BC). Sophist. Early advocate of solipsism. Protagoras of Abdera (c. 481 – 420 BC). Sophist. Early advocate of relativism. Leucippus of Miletus (First half of the 5th century BC). Founding Atomist, Determinist. Socrates of Athens (c. 470 – 399 BC). Emphasized virtue ethics. In epistemology, understood dialectic to be central to the pursuit of truth. Prodicus of Ceos (c. 465 – c. 395 BC). Sophist. Critias of Athens (c. 460 – 413 BC). Atheist writer and politician. Hippias (Middle of the 5th century BC). Sophist. Democritus of Abdera (c. 450 – 370 BC). Founding Atomist. Melissus of Samos. (c. 470 - 430 BC). Eleatic. Cratylus. Follower of Heraclitus. Antisthenes (c. 444 – 365 BC). Founder of Cynicism. Pupil of Socrates. Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 440 – 366 BC). A Cyrenaic. Advocate of ethical hedonism. Xenophon (c. 427 – 355 BC). Historian. Plato (c. 427 – 347 BC). Famed for view of the transcendental forms. Advocated polity governed by philosophers. Diogenes of Apollonia (c. 425 – c 350 BC). Cosmologist. Speusippus (c. 408 – 339 BC). Nephew of Plato. Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408 – 355 BC). Pupil of Plato. Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404 – 323 BC). Cynic.

Hellenistic era

300–200 BC Xenocrates (c. 396 – 314 BC). Disciple of Plato. Aristotle (c. 384 – 322 BC). A polymath whose works ranged across all philosophical fields. Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC). Peripatetic. Pyrrho of Elis (c. 360 – 270 BC). Skeptic. Epicurus (c. 341 – 270 BC). Materialist Atomist, hedonist. Founder of Epicureanism Strato of Lampsacus (c. 340 – c. 268 BC). Atheist, Materialist. Zeno of Citium (c. 333 – 264 BC). Founder of Stoicism. Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 – c. 230 BC). Astronomer. Euclid (fl. 300 BC). Mathematician, founder of geometry. Archimedes (c. 287 – c. 212 BC). Mathematician and inventor. Chrysippus of Soli (c. 280 – 207 BC). Major figure in Stoicism. Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC). Geographer and mathematician. Carneades (c. 214 – 129 BC). Academic skeptic. Understood probability as the purveyor of truth. Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 190 – c. 120 BC). Astronomer and mathematician, founder of trigonometry.

Classical Rome

100 BC–100 AD Cicero (c. 106 BC – 43 BC) Skeptic. Political theorist. Lucretius (c. 99 BC – 55 BC). Epicurean. Philo (c. 13 BC – AD 54). Believed in the allegorical method of reading texts. Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65). Stoic. Jesus of Nazareth (died c. AD 34) the founding figure of Christianity. Hero of Alexandria (c. 10 – c. 75). Engineer. Quintilian (c. 35 – c. 100). Rhetorician and teacher. Plutarch (c. 46 – 119). Epictetus (c. 55 – 135). Stoic. Emphasized ethics of self–determination.

100–400 Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180). Stoic. Sextus Empiricus (fl. during the 2nd and possibly the 3rd centuries AD). Skeptic, Pyrrhonist. Origen (c. 185 – 254). Christian Platonist. Plotinus (c. 205 – 270). Neoplatonist. Had a holistic metaphysics. Porphyry (c. 232 – 304). Student of Plotinus. Iamblichus of Syria (c. 245 – 325). Late neoplatonist. Espoused theurgy. Gregory of Nyssa (c.335 – 394). Christian Neoplatonist. Criticized slavery on philosophical grounds. Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 360 – March 415). Late neoplatonist, astronomer, and mathematician. Augustine of Hippo (c. 354 – 430). Neoplatonist. Original Sin. Church father. Proclus (c. 412 – 485). Neoplatonist. Boethius (c. 480–524). John Philoponus (c. 490–570).

Middle Ages

500–900 Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 500). Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636). Christian philosopher. John of Damascus (c. 680-750). Alcuin (c. 735 – 804). Early Scholastic. Al-Kindi (c. 801 – 873). Major figure in Islamic philosophy. Influenced by Neoplatonism. Abbas ibn Firnas (809–887). Polymath. John the Scot (c. 815 – 877). neoplatonist, pantheist. al-Faràbi (c. 870 – 950). Major Islamic philosopher. Neoplatonist. al-Razi (c. 865 – 925). Rationalist. Major Islamic philosopher. Held that God creates universe by rearranging pre–existing laws. Saadia Gaon (c. 882 – 942). Jewish Philosopher Al-Biruni (c. 973 – 1050). Islamic polymath. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (c. 980–1037). Islamic philosopher. Ibn Hazm (7 November 994 – 15 August 1064)

1000–1100 Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron) (c. 1021–1058). Jewish philosopher. Anselm (c. 1034–1109). Christian philosopher. Produced ontological argument for the existence of God. Omar Khayyam (c. 1048–1131). Islamic philosopher. Agnostic. Mathematician. Philosophical poet, one of the 5 greatest Iranian Poets. Al-Ghazali (c. 1058–1111). Islamic philosopher. Mystic. Yehudah HaLevi (c. 1075- 1141). Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Peter Abelard (c. 1079–1142). Scholastic philosopher. Dealt with the problem of universals. Peter Lombard (c. 1100–1160). Scholastic. Ibn Tufail (c. 1105 – 1185) Averroes (Ibn Rushd, "The Commentator") (c. 1126–December 10, 1198). Islamic philosopher. Maimonides (c. 1135–1204). Jewish philosopher. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149 or 1150 – 1209) Suhrawardi (c. 1154–1191). Major Islamic philosopher. Ibn Arabi (1165–1240). Andalusian Muslim philosopher, mystic, poet, and scholar. Founder of Akbarism, one of the major current of later Islamic philosophy. Fibonacci (c. 1170–c. 1250), mathematician. Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175–1253). Francis of Assisi (c. 1182–1226). Ascetic. Albert the Great (Albertus Magnus) (c. 1193–1280). Early Empiricist.

1200–1300 Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294). Empiricist, mathematician. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1221–1274). Aristotelian, Major Catholic theologian and philosopher. Bonaventure (c. 1225–1274). Franciscan. Ramon Llull (c. 1232–1315) Spanish philosopher Meister Eckhart (c. 1260–1328). mystic. Ibn Taymiyya (c. 1263-1328) Islamic scholar, jurist and philosopher Dante Alighieri (c. 1265 – 1321). Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308). Franciscan, Scholastic, Original Sin. Marsilius of Padua (c. 1270–1342). Understood chief function of state as mediator. William of Ockham (c. 1288–1348). Franciscan. Scholastic. Nominalist, creator of Ockham's razor. Jean Buridan (c. 1300–1358). Nominalist. John Wycliffe (c. 1320–1384). Nicole Oresme (c. 1320–5 – 1382). Made contributions to economics, science, mathematics, theology and philosophy. Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406). Hasdai Crescas (c. 1340 – c. 1411). Jewish philosopher. Gemistus Pletho (c. 1355 – 1452/1454). Late Byzantine scholar of neoplatonic philosophy.

1400 Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464). Christian philosopher. Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457). Humanist, critic of scholastic logic. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499). Christian Neoplatonist, head of Florentine Academy and major Renaissance Humanist figure. First translator of Plato's complete extant works into Latin. Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494). Renaissance humanist. Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536). Humanist, advocate of free will. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527). Political realism. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science. Sir Thomas More (1478–1535). Humanist, created term "utopia". Martin Luther (1483–1546). Founder of Protestantism.

Early modern period

1500 John Calvin (1509–1564). Major Western Christian theologian. Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592). Humanist, skeptic. Giordano Bruno (1548–1600). Advocate of heliocentrism. Francisco Suarez (1548–1617). Politically proto–liberal. Francis Bacon (1561–1626). Empiricist. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). Heliocentrist. Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). Scientist, whose works affected Philosophy of Science. Molla-Sadra (1572–1640). Major Islamic philosopher. Hugo Grotius (1583–1645). Natural law theorist. Marin Mersenne (1588–1648). Cartesian. Robert Filmer (1588–1653). Absolutist, monarchist, patrimonialist. Divine right of kings. Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). Advocate of extensive government power, social contract theorist, materialist. Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655). Mechanicism. Empiricist. René Descartes (1596–1650). Heliocentrism, mind-body dualism, rationalism.

1600 Baltasar Gracián (1601–1658). Spanish Catholic philosopher François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680). Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). Physicist, scientist. Noted for Pascal's wager. Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673). Materialist, feminist. Robert Boyle (1627–1691). Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627 – 1704). Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677). Rationalism. Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694). Social contract theorist. John Locke (1632–1704). Major Empiricist. Political philosopher. Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715). Cartesian. Isaac Newton (1643–1727). John Flamsteed (1646 – 1719). Astronomer. Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716). Co-inventor of calculus. Pierre Bayle (1647–1706). Pyrrhonist. Jean Meslier (1664–1729). Atheist Priest. Giambattista Vico (1668–1744). John Toland (1670–1722). Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1671–1713). Dimitrie Cantemir (1674-1723) Christian Wolff (1679–1754). Determinist, rationalist. George Berkeley (1685–1753). Idealist, empiricist. Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689–1755). Skeptic, humanist. Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746). Proto–utilitarian. Voltaire (1694–1778). Advocate for freedoms of religion and expression.

1700 Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758). American philosophical theologian. David Hartley (1705–1757). Julien La Mettrie (1709–1751). Materialist, genetic determinist. Thomas Reid (1710–1796). Member of Scottish Enlightenment, founder of Scottish Common Sense philosophy. David Hume (1711–1776). Empiricist, skeptic. Jean–Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). Social contract political philosopher. Denis Diderot (1713–1784). Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762). Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771). Utilitarian. Etienne de Condillac (1715–1780). Jean d'Alembert (1717–1783). Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789). Materialist, atheist. Adam Smith (1723–1790). Economic theorist, member of Scottish Enlightenment. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804). Major contributions in nearly every field of philosophy, especially metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786). Member of the Jewish Enlightenment. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781). Edmund Burke (1729–1797). Conservative political philosopher. Johann Georg Hamann (1730–1788). Thomas Paine (1737–1809). Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794). Italian criminologist, jurist, and philosopher from the Age of Enlightenment. Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Liberal political philosopher. Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819). Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803). Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). Early evolutionary theorist. Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Utilitarian, hedonist. Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827). Determinist.