LIST OF PHILOSPHERS

Abdolkarim Soroush:
Abdolkarim Soroush is a reformer, thinker, and Rumi scholar
belonging to Iran.
Abdolkarim Soroush was born on 16 December 1945 in
Tehran. He comes from a middle class background and his
original name is Hosein-Haj-Faraj.
Major Works
He published his book Knowledge and Value, which was
penned during his stay at England.
One amongst Soroushs many philosophies was bridging the
gap between ones own interpretation of religion and the
actual interpretation. In this regard, he has written a book
named Expansion of Prophetic Experience.
His major contribution to Iranian philosophy was introducing
a whole new definition to the term Religious Philosophy.
Soroush disagreed with the Iranian clergys involvement in
the political affairs of the nation. All his arguments were
compiled in the form of a book called Theoretical Expansion
and Contraction Of Religious Knowledge
Amongst these books, the notable ones include What Is
Science, What Is Philosophy, Satanic Ideology, Tolerance
And Governance, and Intellectualism And Religious
Conviction.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

Descending from a lineage of prominent Hasidic families of
Europe, Abraham Joshua Heschel was born in the town of
Warsaw, Poland, on 11th January 1907.
Major Works

Torah min HaShamayim, a book in which Heschel compares

the two existing ideologies in Judaism is considered one of
his major works. The literary work has been a topic of
analysis and research by scholars of Jewish theolog

ADAM SIMTH
Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. His namesake father
was by profession an advocate, solicitor and prosecutor.
Major Works

During Smiths Professorship at Glasgow, he wrote and

published one of his Classics The Theory of Moral
Sentiments. He wrote this in 1759. The book laid emphasis
on how mutual sympathy was the basis of moral sentiments.
His best-seller The Wealth of Nations which was published
in 1776 was a powerful and very influential book. This book
central theme lay on the role of self-interest.

Adi Shankara
The mainstream scholarly opinion is that he was born circa 788.
Major Works
Adi Shankara was an 8th century Indian Hindu philosopher and
theologian whose teachings had a profound influence on the growth of
Hinduism.

Alan Watts

HE WAS BORN ON 06 January 1915 AD, British.

Major Works

The Spirit of Zen (1936)

The Legacy of Asia and Western Man (1937)
The Meaning of Happiness (1940)
The Way of Zen (1957)
Psychotherapy East and West (1961)
The Joyous Cosmology Adventures in the Chemistry of
Consciousness (1962)

Albert Camus
Albert Camus was born on November 7, 1913 to a Pied-Noir settler in
Dran (French Algeria, then known as Mondovi).
Major Works
He never implied that he was a Marxist but wrote "we might see
communism as a springboard and asceticism that prepares the ground
for more spiritual activities.
Camus established Thtre du Travail (Worker's Theatre) in 1935 which
was renamed Thtre de l'Equipe (Team's Theatre) in 1937.
The Rebel in 1951.

Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer was born on 14 January 1875 in Kaysersberg,

(Alsace-Lorraine), Germany (presently Haut-Rhin, France).

Major Works
In 1906 he published Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung ("History
of Life-of-Jesus research") which made him become very reputed.
in autumn 1913 Schweitzers built their first hospital of corrugated iron

Alexander Bain
He was born on 11 June 1818 AD, Scottish
Major Works
The Senses and the Intellect,
Mental and Moral Science,
Education as a Science and
The Emotions and the Will brought him huge critical acclaim.

Alexander Herzen

Alexander Herzen was born out of a wedlock on April 6, 1812 in

Moscow, Russia, to Ivan Alekseyevich Yakovlev, a rich Russian
landowner and Henriette Wilhelmina Luisa Haag, a German Protestant
woman.

Major Works
One of his greatest literary masterpieces is his autobiography My Past
and Thoughts which is a source of information and insight into the
Russian society under the reign of Nicholas I.
Letters on the Study of Nature (1845-46)
Who is to Blame? (1847)

Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead was born on 15 February 1869 in Ramsgate,
Kent, England in an affluent family where his father and uncles were
vicars.

Major work
Treatise on Universal Algebra which was published in 1898.
Principia Mathematica which was published in 1910, 1912, and 1913.
Principia Mathematica was a three volume work on the foundation of
mathematics whose second edition was brought out in 1927.

Allan Bloom
Allan Bloom was born on September 14, 1930.
Major Work

Bloom translated and interpreted many great works, but it was his
translation of Plato's Republic in 1968 that won him the most acclaim.
He was greatly influenced by his teacher and mentor, Leo Strauss,
and this was evident in his interpretation.
Bloom's most acclaimed book, The Closing of the American Mind,
was published in 1987. The book received many positive reviews, but
also stirred some great controversies.

Alphonsus Liguori
Alphonsus was born on 27 September 1696, in Naples, Italy, to Don
Joseph de' Liguori and Anna Cavalieri Liguori.

Major Work
Alphonsus penned his opinion on moral theology in books such as:
Visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
The True Spouse of Jesus Christ which was aimed at nuns.

Selva- A book dedicated to priests.

Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen was born on 3rd November 1933 AD inSantiniketan, West
Bengal, India to Ashutosh Sen, a Professor, who later served as the
Chairman of the West Bengal Public Service Commission, and Amita
Sen.
Major Work:
In 1970, his first book titled Collective Choice and Social Welfare
His publication Development as Freedom was recognised by the Nobel Prize committee
as an important contribution in the field of economic development theory.

One of his seminal 1992 works Inequality Reexamined, is an acclaimed book that
brought together all the important themes of his work from over a decade

Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was born around 510 BC in Clazomenae, Ionia.
Major Work:
He had written a book of philosophy, the fragments of which were
preserved in the work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th century AD.
The Pre-Socratic philosopher Anaxagoras is credited to have introduced the
Athenians to the concept of philosophy. His contributions to the field of
cosmology have been immense as he was probably the first person to state the
correct reason behind the occurrence of eclipses.
He claimed that the sun was not a god as people of his time believed, but a
heavenly body composed of blazing metal. This observation of his led to him
being charged of impiety.

Anicius Manlius Severinus

Boethius
He was born as Anicius Manlius Severinus Bothius around 480 AD in
Rome, Kingdom of Odoacer into the ancient Roman family of the Anicii

which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many

consuls.
Major Works:
He translated several of Aristotle's works, and his completed translations of
Aristotle's works on logic were the only significant portions of Aristotle available in
Latin Christendom from the sixth century until the 12th century. Some of his
translations, however, were mixed with his own commentary.
Boethius's best known work is the 'Consolation of Philosophy' which he wrote
during his imprisonment as he awaited his execution. The work is presented in
the form of an imaginary dialogue between himself and philosophy, with
philosophy personified as a woman.

Anna Comnena
She was born on 1 December 1083
Major Work:
She is best known for writing the Alexiad, in which she details the
history of the Byzantine Empire under the reign of her father. The text,
which is divided into fifteen books and a prologue, is composed in a
literary style fashioned after Thucydides, Polybius, and Xenophon.

Aristotle
Aristotle was born in Stagira, Chalcidice, which is approximately 55km
east of Thessaloniki, in 384 B.C.
Major Work:

Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer was born on 22 February 1788, in Danzig
(Gdask), to Johanna Schopenhauer and Heinrich Floris
Schopenhauer.

Major Work:
His single monumental work The World as Will and Representation
remains his greatest piece of work. The book is a philosophical genius
in every sense as the author tries to illustrate non-rationality and
universality as the supreme force behind the existence of both animate
beings and inanimate objects.

Auguste Comte
Born on 19 January 1798 AD, in Montpellier Herault, in southern France
Major Work:

He published six volumes of Course in Positive Philosophy

between 1830 and 1842. In this series, he presented an interesting
review of mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology.
He also showed the historical and theoretical link among them.

From 1851 to 1854, he published four volumes of System of

Positive Polity - A Treatise of Sociology, Instituting the Religion of

Humanity. Through this work he expressed his unique view on

democracy.

Averroes
Major Works

Ibn Rushd most famous work on philosophy is the book titled The
Incoherence of the Incoherence. This was his most important piece
of writing that revived the Aristotelian philosophy in the West, during
the 12th and 13th century. His work was a retort on Al-Ghazalis work
The Incoherence of the Philosophers that denounced
Aristotelianism.

Avicenna
Major Work:
Kitb al-shif (The Book of Healing),
Kitab al-najat (The Book of Deliverance),
Reslafiebalakam al-nojum,
The Canon of Medicine

Baruch Spinoza
Major Work:

His posthumous publication, The Ethics

he also started working on his next work, Theological Political Treatise
in defense of secular and constitutional government which was
published anonymously in 1670.

Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872 at Ravenscroft, Trellech,
Monmouth shire, Wales to Viscount Amberley and Katharine Louisa.
Major Work:
he originated Russell's paradox, challenging the bases of the set
theory.
His first foremost book on mathematical logic got published in 1903
named The Principles of Mathematics.
In 1905, he completed his essay On Denoting, which was later
published in the philosophical journal, Mind.
the book Principia Mathematica, whose first three volumes got
published in 1910.
A History of Western Philosophy (1945) became one of the best sellers.

Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand, in France's Auvergne
region on 19 June 1623 to Antoinette Begon and tienne Pascal.
Major Work:
In mathematics, his most significant contribution was the development of probability
theory. Developed in collaboration with Pierre de Fermat, the theory was initially applied
to gambling before finding application in several other fields as well. Today, it is
extremely important in the area of actuarial science among others.
He established what later became known as Pascals law or the principle of transmission
of fluid-pressure. The law states that that pressure exerted anywhere in a confined
incompressible fluid is transmitted equally in all directions throughout the fluid such that
the pressure variations (initial differences) remain the same.
He invented mechanical calculator known as Pascals calculators or Pascalines. It was
primarily an adding machine which could add and subtract two numbers directly
although it the device was capable to do multiply and divide by repetition."

Bob Black
Major Works

The Abolition of Work was published in 1985 in which the author

argues that work is the root of all misery as it involves an activity

enforced by economic and political means.

Anarchy After Leftism was published in 1997, in response to

another anarchist, Murray Bookchin who criticized the post-left
anarchist as being lifestyle anarchists. The book failed, however, to
invalidate Bookchins main points.

Chanakya
Chanakya was born in a Brahmin family in 350 BC.

Major Works

Chanakya authored the treatise Arthashastra which discusses a

variety of topics such as monetary and fiscal policies, welfare,

international relations, and war strategies in detail. The text is
believed to a compilation of the works of various authors by some
scholars.

The Arthashastra also explores issues related to the nature of

government, law, civil and criminal court systems, ethics, economics,
markets and trade, nature of peace, and the duties and obligations of
a king. Topics such as agriculture, mineralogy, mining and metals,
animal husbandry, medicine, forests and wildlife are also covered in
the treatise.

Cicero
Cicero was born in Arpinum, a hill town 100 km southeast of Rome.

Major Works

On the Orator written by Cicero in 55 BC, is a lengthy treatise in

the form of a dialogue and it places rhetoric above law and
philosophy. It argues that the ideal orator would have mastered them
and would possess eloquence too.

Confucius
It is believed that Confucius was born in Zou, Lu state (near present-day
Qufu, Shandong Province) in 551 B.C.
Major Work:
His command on six arts namely calligraphy, ritual, charioteering,
arithmetic, music and archery and his knowledge about history, classical
traditions and poetry aided him in this.

Dallas Willard
Not much is known about Dallas Willards parents or his childhood life
other than the fact that he was born at St Louis, Missouri, US on
September 4, 1935.
Major Work:

He came up with two translations of the work by Husserl;

One in 1993 by the title, Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics
Second in 2003, Philosophy of Arithmetic
His first book in the same release in the 1988 under the title, The Spirit
of the Disciples: Understanding How God Changes Lives.
His ground-breaking work was published in 1998 under the title, The
Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God.
In 2002, he came up with the book, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on
the Character of Christ.

Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942)
Major Work:
Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology
Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting
The Mind's I (Bantam, Reissue edition 1985, with Douglas Hofstadter)
The Intentional Stance
Consciousness Explained (Back Bay Books 1992)

Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (Simon &
Schuster; reprint edition 1996) Freedom Evolves (Viking Press 2003)
Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

David Hume
David Hume, originally David Home, was born to Joseph Home and
Katherine Falconer on May 7, 1711 in a tenement of the Lawnmarket in
Edinburgh.
Major Work:
In the year 1744, Essays Moral and Political got published.
Hume commenced his effective work The History of England
he also wrote Philosophical Essays Associated With Human
Understanding, which was later published as An Enquiry Concerning
Human Understanding.
In 1752, he wrote My Own Life
The History of England was a great success having events from the
invasion of Julius Caesar to the 1688 revolution. The book was the
largest selling book of that time.

Debendranath Tagore
Debendranath Tagore was born on May 15, 1817, at Calcutta
Major Work:

Debendranath Tagore founded the 'Tattwabodhini Sabha' to

facilitate discussions on different philosophies and later integrated the

Brahmo Sabha with it. He also introduced the different forms of
Brahmo worship which were later used by the community.

As the influence of Brahmoism spread throughout India under his

leadership, he established himself as a person of particular spiritual
accomplishment and came to be known as Maharshi.

He also got involved in active politics and was selected as the

Secretary of the British Indian Association. While serving at the post,
he made relentless efforts to terminate the chowkidari tax for the poor
villagers and also demanded political independence for India from the
British parliament.

Edith Stein
Edith Stein was born to Siegfried Stein and Auguste Stein in a Jewish
family on October 12, 1891, which also happened to be the day of Yom
Kippur.
Major Works

During her time in Echt in Netherlands; Edith Stein wrote her most
celebrated philosophical work titled The Science of the Cross.

Emile Durkheim
David Emile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858, in Epinal, capital
town of the department of Vosges, in Lorraine to Mlanie and Mose, a
rabbi of Epinal, and the Chief Rabbi of the Vosges and Haute-Marne.

Major Works

In 1892, he published The Division of Labour in Society, his

doctoral dissertation dealing with the nature of human society, its
development and argued for moral and economic regulation to
maintain peace and order

In 1895, in the Rules of the Sociological Method he declared that

social sciences should also be based on a scientific method and
founded the first European department of sociology at Bordeaux

Epicurus
Epicurus was born in February 341 BCE to Neocles and Chaerestrate.
Major Work:
He pioneered the concept of the Ethic of Reciprocity as the foundation
of ethics in Ancient Greece.

Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes was born in the year 276 BC to Aglaos
Major Works

His book titled On the Measurement of the Earth is supposed to

be one of the oldest books on Geography and the elements of the

solar system. Ranking among his most important works, the book
presented his findings related to circumference of the earth.

Considered a pioneering chronologist, he also wrote a book titled

Olympic Victors which chronicled the winners at the sports and
athletic event that takes place to this day.

F. H. Bradley
Francis Herbert Bradley was born on January 30, 1846 at Clapham,
Surrey, England to Charles Bradley and Emma Linton.
Major Work:

His first important contribution to philosophy was the publication of his

pamphlet The Presuppositions of Critical History in 1874.
The thoughts of Bradley on ethics were exposed in his first largely
appreciated publication, Ethical Studies (1876).
Bradleys another most appreciable treatment of logic was seen in The
Principles of Logic which was published together with Frege's
Grundlagen.
After finishing The Principles of Logic, Bradley devoted his entire time
in presenting a full account of his metaphysics, which resulted in his
another great work Appearance and Reality. The work is divided into
two books, the first gives a brief description and argues that the ideas
by which we try to understand the universe all bring us finally to
conflicts when we try to think about their implications. The second book
displayed Essays on Truth and Reality provides a positive account of
the Absolute.

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561 at York House near the
Strand in London.
Major Work:
Francis Bacon acquainted with Robert Devereux who was 2nd Earl of
Essex and favorite of Queen Elizabeth and by 1591, became the earl's
confidential adviser. The following year, Bacon was authorized to write a
tract in response to the Jesuit Robert Parson's anti-government polemic,
which he gave the headline as Certain Observations Made Upon A
Libel, recognizing England with the ideals of democratic Athens
opposite of the belligerence of Spain.

Francis Schaeffer
Francis August Schaeffer was born in Germantown, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania to Bessie Williamson and Franz A. Schaeffer III.
Major Works

His masterpiece was his collection of 22 books, which was put

together in a series known as The Complete Works of Francis A.

Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview. This large collection was divided
into five large sections. Of this extensive collection, the second book,
How Should We Then Live, published in 1976, in the fifth volume,
went on to become a huge success.

The book How Should We Then Live became so successful that

there is a documentary film series based on the book and the book
also served as the basis for 10 major films. This is also considered
one of his greatest works because it is credited with inspiring a
number of leaders of the American conservative evangelical society.
The book has also spawned a number of study aids for the films that
were created.

Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844 in Rcken, near
Leipzig, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, which is now in Germany.
Major Work:
The year 1872 witnessed the publication of his first book, The Birth of
Tragedy.
In the period of 1873 to 1876, Nietzsche published his four long essays,
David Strauss: the Confessor and the Writer, On the Use and Abuse
of History for Life, Schopenhauer as Educator, and Richard Wagner
in Bayreuth. All of them shared the orientation of a cultural critique,
challenging the developing German culture as suggested by
Schopenhauer and Wagner.
In 1882, Nietzsche published the first part of The Gay Science.

Nietzsche self published his book Beyond Good and Evil.

in 1886-87, he brought out the second edition of his earlier works
second editions of his earlier works The Birth of Tragedy, Human, All
Too Human, Dawn, and The Gay Science. The succeeding year he
wrote the polemic On the Genealogy of Morals. In 1888, Nietzsche
came up with two other works titled Twilight of the Idols and The
Antichrist. That summer his health showed considerable improvements
and his higher spirits were seen in his subsequent writings like The
Case of Wagner.

Friedrich Schiller
He was born as Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller in Marbach am
Neckar, Wrttemberg, Holy Roman Empire.
Major Works

His play, 'The Robbers' is regarded as one of the first European

melodramas. The work provides a window for the societal viciousness
and scrutinizes the inequalities that result out of class, religion and
economic status differences in people.

Friedrich von Hayek

Friedrich von Hayek was born on 8 May 1899 in Vienna, the then capital
city of Austria.

Major Work:
Friedrich August von Hayek had a great contribution in the field of
economics and is mainly popular for his work The Road to Serfdom
(1944) and for his outstanding work on knowledge in the 1930s and
1940s. He was also an expert of business-cycle theory. He had also
worked on psychology (1952), political philosophy (1960) and legal
theory (1973-79). Apart from this, his emphasis on impulsive order and
his work on intricate systems have been very significant and persuasive
amongst the Austrians.

Galen
Galen, also known as Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, was born in
September 130 AD in the city of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama,
Turkey)
Major Works

Galen was a skilled surgeon and his principal interest was in

human anatomy. He was known to use such techniques and
procedures in surgeries that are similar to the ones used in modern
surgeries. His contribution to the Hippocratic understanding of
pathology was also immense. His works on the circulatory system
were also much ahead of his times.

Galileo Galilei
He was born on 15 February 1564 AD in Italy.
Major Work:

made significant discoveries in the field of pure fundamental science as

well as practical applied science.
Further working on the functioning of the telescope, Galileo bettered the
instrument so much so that it could magnify up to 20 times and helped
him have a clear vision of the Moon and its surface. It was through
Galileos telescope that Moons rocky and uneven surface first came to
limelight.
In 1610, Galileo discovered the moons revolving around Jupiter.
The ground-breaking discoveries made by Galileo were written in a
small book, titled 'Sidereus Nuncius' (The Starry Messenger). He
dedicated the book to Cosimo II de Medici, the grand duke of his native
Tuscany.
1612 published work, Discourse on Bodies in Water.
In 1632, Galileo came up with his book, 'Dialogue Concerning the Two
Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic & Copernican'.
Galileo worked on his finale book titled 'Two New Sciences'.

George Berkeley
He was born on 12 March 1685 AD, british
Major Works

His first major work was Three Dialogues between Hylas and
Philonous (1713) that discussed the concepts of perceptual relativity,

conceivability and phenomenalism. In the book, his metaphysical

views are expressed in the form of a dialogue between two
characters, Hylas and Philonous.

His essay on the nature of motion, titled De Motu (1721) rejects

many of Sir Isaac Newtons notions of space, time and motion. He
argued that motion should not be considered as an abstraction
separate from time and space.

Alciphron was a philosophical dialogue published in 1732 which

is presented in the form of dialogue between four characters, who
depict the free-thinkers Alciphron, Lysicles, Euphranor and Crito.

His book Siris: a Chain of Philosophical Reflexions and Inquiries

Concerning the Virtues of Tar Water (1744) was among the last of his
major works. He discussed the various medicinal uses of tar water,
and commented on a variety of seemingly unrelated topics such as
science, philosophy and theology.

George Boole
George Boole was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, on 2
November 1815.
Major Work:
he established his own school in Lincoln when he was 19. Four years
later, he took over Hall's Academy in Waddington, outside Lincoln.
he developed new ideas on logical method and published a pamphlet,
Mathematical Analysis of Logic, in 1847 in which he argued that logic
should be allied with mathematics, not philosophy.

He introduced general symbolic method of logical inference through

'Laws of Thought', published in the same year.

In 1857, he published 'On the Comparison of Transcendents , with
Certain Applications to the Theory of Definite Integrals.
In 1859, he published Treatise on Differential Equations.

George Santayana
Born as Jorge Agustn Nicols Ruiz de Santayana y Borrs, on
16th December, 1863 in Madrid, Spain, Santayana spent his early
childhood in Avila.
Major Work:
One of his main philosophical works was, The Sense of Beauty
published in 1896.
he published his utterly significant philosophical work, The Life of Reason (1905-06) in five
volumes.

The Life of Reason was the first extended work of Pragmatism.

his later philosophical works, Scepticism and Animal Faith (1923) and
The Realms of Being, published in 4 volumes during the time period,
1927-40.
In 1944, he published his autobiography, Persons and Places

Gottfried W. Leibniz
Gottfried W. Leibniz was born at Leipzig on the first of July 1646

Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was born in Paris on October 18, 1859

Major Works

L'volution cratrice (Creative Evolution), published in 1907, is

the most popular among Bergsons four major works. Through this
book, Bergson proposed that the evolution is not a mechanical, but a
creative process and it should be seen as a continued existence that
constantly develop and generate new forms.

Le rire, Essai sur la signification du comique (Laughter, an essay

on the meaning of the comic), published in 1900, is a collection of
three essays through which he tried to determine the process of
comic, not its effects. Though considered one of his minor works, it
gives an insight into Bergsons view about life.

Henry David Thoreau

henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord,
Massachusetts, U.S.A,
Major Works

Published in 1854, Thoreaus classic book Walden or Life in the

Woods is considered to be one of the greatest literary works of all

time. The book advocates about leading a life close to nature and
with a minimum of distasteful labour. Over the years, the book has
acquired a cult following, serving as an inspiration for the works of
many naturalists and writers.

Being a keen abolitionist, in 1849, Thoreau published one of his

most influential essays titled Resistance to Civil Government or Civil
Disobedience. The work inspired many leader activists, including
Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, to adopt a non-violent
approach against political and social injustice.

Heraclitus
Major Works

He wrote a treatise On Nature which was divided into three

discourseson nature, on politics and on the universe. The book was
deposited in the temple of Artemis which served as a library during
the ancient times. The book became very famous and many future
philosophers referred to it.

Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was born on April 27, 1820 in Derby, England.
Major Work:

contributions to the Victorian periodicals were later collected and

published in three volumes of Essays
Contrasting to his earlier views in his book, Social Statics in which he
had advocated the rights of women and nationalization of land, Spencer
later became a firm opponent of womens votes.
His political views in the later years were clearly evident from his book,
The Man versus the State.

Ibn Khaldun
He was born on 27 May 1332 in Tunis.
Major Work

Ibn Khalduns best known work is the Muqaddimah, also known

as the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun which records an early view of
universal history. The work is regarded by some modern thinkers as
the first work dealing with the philosophy of history or the social
sciences of sociology, demography, historiography, cultural history,
social darwinism, marxism, and economics.

Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 in Konigsberg, the capital of
Prussia
Major Work:

The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures, published in 1762.

He published two more philosophical works; Attempt to Introduce the
Concept of Negative Magnitudes into Philosophy and The Only
Possible Argument in Support of a Demonstration of the Existence of
God
in 1764, he wrote Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and
Sublime
Kant wrote the Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics in 1783

Imre Lakatos
Imre Lakatos was born as Imre Lipschitz on November 9, 1922, in
Debrecen, Hungary, into a Jewish family.
Major Works

He tried to prove the Euler-Descartes theorem: V E + F = 2 (i.e.

V=Vertices, E=Edges, F=Faces) in his 1961 doctoral thesis, as a

fictional conversation between a teacher and students in a
mathematics class.

His major contribution in the philosophy of science was the idea of

a scientific research programme, where he attempted to create a
synthesis of Thomas Kuhns model of scientific theory change and
Karl Poppers falsificationism.

He devised a research programme consisting of hard core,

emphasizing on evaluating a research program as progressive or
degenerative, instead of analyzing whether the hypothesis is true or
false.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

He was born to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi in a
small village.

Major Works

He is best remembered for his relentless efforts in fighting the

injustices meted out to women, especially widows. Moved by the
plight of child widows, he persuaded the British Government to take
action and pushed for it to pass The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act,
1856.

Jacques Derrida
Major Works
Derrida published three books in 1967 that charted this important philosophical ideology. The
book are: Speech and Phenomena, Of Grammatology and Writing and Difference. In
these three books, he investigated and evaluated Western Philosophy. This was by far his
most important inputs in philosophy and is also considered some of the best works on
Edmund Husserl and the phenomenology. These three publications collectively established
his status and projected him to international prominence.

Jean Le Rond dAlembert

Jean Le Rond dAlembert was born in Paris, on 16 November 1717
Major Work:
He published his most significant work Trait de dynamique
He published the initial works and findings in his Rflexions sur la cause gnrale des
vents, in 1747.
This article was published as Recherches sur les cordes vibrantes, in 1747
In 1752, he published his Essai dune nouvelle thorie de la rsistance des fluids, a thesis
illustrating that the drag on a body submersed in an incompressible elastic fluid is zero.
published his lments de musique (1752) prior to this, which was based on Jean-Philippe
Rameau's theories on harmonics.

dAlembert published his philosophical work Mlanges de littrature et de philosophie in

1753. The fourth volume was added in 1759 and the fifth in 1767.

Jean Piaget
Major Works

He was one of the most influential development psychologists of the 20th century
who was best known for propounding the theory of cognitive development. He influenced
the works of future generations of eminent psychologists studying not just human
behaviour, but also the behaviour of non-human species like primates.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born on June 28, 1712 in Geneva.

Major Work:
In 1761, Rosseau published a massive 800-page novel, Julie, ou la nouvelle Hlose which
proved to be immensely successful.
In 1762, Rousseau published Du Contrat Social, Principes du droit politique.
In Mtiers, he wrote the Constitutional Project for Corsica.

Jeremy Bentham
Bentham was born on 15th February 1748

Major Work:
published his first book, A Fragment on Government in 1776.
A Fragment on Government (London, 1776), Defence of Usury (London, 1787), An
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (London, 1789), Panopticon (Dublin,
1791), A Protest Against Law Taxes (Dublin, 1793), A Table of the Springs of Action (London,
1817), On the Liberty of the Press and Public Discussion (London, 1821), Three Tracts
Relative to Spanish and Portugueze Affairs with a Continental Eye to English Ones (London,
1821), The Elements of the Art of Packing (London, 1821), Truth versus Ashhurst (London,
1823), The Rationale of Reward (London, 1825), The Rationale of Punishment (London,
1830), Of Population Excerpted from A Manual of Political Economy (Edinburgh, 1843),
Critique of the Doctrine of Inalienable, Natural Rights Excerpted from Anarchical Fallacies
(Edinburgh, 1843), Logical Arrangements Excerpted from Nomography (Edinburgh, 1843),
Pannomial Fragments (Edinburgh, 1843), Principles of International Law (Edinburgh, 1843)
and Principles of the Civil Code (Edinburgh, 1843).

Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti was born to a Telugu-speaking Hindu Brahmin family in the town of
Madanapalle, Madras Presidency (now located in Andhra Pradesh).
Major Works

The First and Last Freedom, written by Krishnamurti, was published in 1954. This

was the second of his books published by a typical marketable publisher. The book
became extremely popular for its themes of belief, desire, simplicity and awareness and
went on to spawn 36 editions, in 9 different languages and is housed in over 1,566
libraries around the world.
Krishnamurtis Notebook, published in 1976, is a publication about states of
consciousness and is a part-autobiography. The work was expanded in 2003 after a few

more pages of Krishnamurtis diary were found. This book also became popular and
produced two other editions; Krishnamurtis Journal and Krishnamurti to Himself.