Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant (/kænt/;[8] German: [ɪˈmaːnu̯eːl kant]; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a
German philosopher who is a central figure in modern philosophy.[9] Kant argues that the human
mind creates the structure of human experience, that reason is the source of morality,
that aesthetics arises from a faculty of disinterested judgment, that space and time are forms of
human sensibility, and that the world as it is "in-itself" is independent of humanity's concepts of it.
Kant took himself to have effected a "Copernican revolution" in philosophy, akin to Copernicus'
reversal of the age-old belief that the sun revolves around the earth. Kant's beliefs continue to have
a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially the fields
of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political theory, and aesthetics.
Politically, Kant is one of the earliest exponents of the idea that perpetual peace could be secured
through universal democracy and international cooperation. He believed that this will be the eventual
outcome of universal history, although it is not rationally planned.[10]The exact nature of Kant's
religious ideas continues to be the subject of especially heated philosophical dispute, as viewpoints
are ranging from the idea that Kant was an early and radical exponent of atheism who finally
exploded the ontological argument for God's existence, to more critical treatments epitomized
by Nietzsche who claimed that Kant had "theologian blood"[11] and that Kant was merely a
sophisticated apologist for traditional Christian religious belief, writing that "Kant wanted to prove, in
a way that would dumbfound the common man, that the common man was right: that was the secret
joke of this soul."[12]
In one of Kant's major works, the Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, 1781),[13] he
attempted to explain the relationship between reason and human experience and to move beyond
the failures of traditional philosophy and metaphysics. Kant wanted to put an end to an era of futile
and speculative theories of human experience, while resisting the skepticism of thinkers such
as David Hume. Kant regarded himself as ending and showing the way beyond the impasse which
modern philosophy had led to between rationalistsand empiricists,[14] and is widely held to have
synthesized these two early modern traditions in his thought.[15]
Kant argued that our experiences are structured by necessary features of our minds. In his view, the
mind shapes and structures experience so that, on an abstract level, all human experience shares
certain essential structural features. Among other things, Kant believed that the concepts
of space and time are integral to all human experience, as are our concepts
of cause and effect.[16] One important consequence of this view is that our experience of things is
always of the phenomenal world as conveyed by our senses: we do not have direct access to things
in themselves, the so-called noumenal world. Kant published other important works on ethics,
religion, law, aesthetics, astronomy, and history. These included the Critique of Practical
Reason (Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 1788), the Metaphysics of Morals (Die Metaphysik der
Sitten, 1797), which dealt with ethics, and the Critique of Judgment (Kritik der Urteilskraft, 1790),
which looks at aesthetics and teleology.

Socrates
Socrates (/ˈsɒkrətiːz/;[2] Greek: Σωκράτης [sɔːkrátɛːs], Sōkrátēs; c. 470 – 399 BC)[3][4] was a classical
Greek (Athenian) philosophercredited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being
the first moral philosopher,[5][6] of the Western ethical tradition of thought.[7][8][9] An enigmatic figure, he
made no writings, and is known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers writing after his
lifetime, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. Other sources include the
contemporaneous Antisthenes, Aristippus, and Aeschines of Sphettos. Aristophanes, a playwright, is
the only source to have written during his lifetime.[10][11]
Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity,
though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is "hidden behind his 'best
disciple'".[12] Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his
contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the
concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus.
The elenchus remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type
of pedagogy in which a series of questions is asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to
encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. Plato's Socrates also made important and
lasting contributions to the field of epistemology, and his ideologies and approach have proven a
strong foundation for much Western philosophy that has followed.

Aristotle
Aristotle (/ˈærɪˌstɒtəl/;[3] Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs, pronounced [aristotélɛːs]; 384–322 BC)[4] was
an ancient Greek philosopherand scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidiki, in the north
of Classical Greece. Along with Plato, Aristotle is considered the "Father of Western Philosophy",
which inherited almost its entire lexicon from his teachings, including problems and methods of
inquiry, so influencing almost all forms of knowledge.
His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and Proxenus of Atarneus became his
guardian.[5] At seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens[6] and
remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC). His writings cover many subjects –
including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater,
music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first
comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at
the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC.[7] Teaching
Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities. He established a library in the Lyceum which
helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books, which were papyrus scrolls.[8] The fact that
Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views of Platonism, but, following Plato's
death, Aristotle immersed himself in empirical studies and shifted from Platonism to empiricism.[9] He
believed all peoples' concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception.
Aristotle's views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works.
Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence
extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and were not
replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of
Aristotle's zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl (reproductive) arm of the octopus, were
disbelieved until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, studied
by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelardand John Buridan. Aristotelianism profoundly
influenced Jewish and Islamic thought during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology,
especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher". His ethics, though
always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.
All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today.
Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues for publication – Cicero described his
literary style as "a river of gold"[10] – only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it
intended for publication.[11] Aristotle has been depicted by major artists
including Raphael and Rembrandt. Early Modern theories including William Harvey's circulation of
the blood and Galileo Galilei's kinematics were developed in reaction to Aristotle's. In the 19th
century, Martin Heidegger created a new interpretation of Aristotle's political philosophy,
while George Boole gave Aristotle's logic a mathematical foundation with his system of algebraic
logic. In the 20th century, Aristotle was widely criticised, even ridiculed by thinkers such as the
philosopher Bertrand Russell and the biologist Peter Medawar. More recently, Aristotle has again
been taken seriously, such as in the thinking of Ayn Rand and Alasdair MacIntyre, while Armand
Marie Leroi has reconstructed Aristotle's biology. The image of Aristotle tutoring the
young Alexander the Great remains current, as in the 2004 film Alexander, and
the Poetics continues to play a role in the cinema of the United States.

Plato
Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/;[a][1] Ancient Greek: Πλάτων[a] Plátōn, pronounced [plá.tɔːn] in Classical Attic; 428/427
or 424/423[b] – 348/347 BC) was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of
the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely
considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western
tradition.[2] Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to
have survived intact for over 2,400 years.[3] Others believe that the oldest extant manuscript dates to
around AD 895, 1100 years after Plato's death. This makes it difficult to know exactly what Plato
wrote.[4][5]
Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations
of Western philosophy and science.[6] Alfred North Whitehead once noted: "the safest general
characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to
Plato."[7] In addition to being a foundational figure for Western science, philosophy, and mathematics,
Plato has also often been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality.[8]
Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. Plato appears to
have been the founder of Western political philosophy, with his Republic, and Laws among other
dialogues, providing some of the earliest extant treatments of political questions from a philosophical
perspective. Plato's own most decisive philosophical influences are usually thought to have been
Socrates, Parmenides, Heraclitus and Pythagoras, although few of his predecessors' works remain
extant and much of what we know about these figures today derives from Plato himself.[9]
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Plato as "...one of the most dazzling writers in
the Western literary tradition and one of the most penetrating, wide-ranging, and influential authors
in the history of philosophy. ... He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher”
should be applied. But he was so self-conscious about how philosophy should be conceived, and
what its scope and ambitions properly are, and he so transformed the intellectual currents with which
he grappled, that the subject of philosophy, as it is often conceived—a rigorous and systematic
examination of ethical, political, metaphysical, and epistemologicalissues, armed with a distinctive
method—can be called his invention. Few other authors in the history of Western philosophy
approximate him in depth and range: perhaps only Aristotle (who studied with
him), Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank."[10]

Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (/ˈbɛnθəm/; 15 February 1748 [O.S. 4 February 1747][1] – 6 June 1832) was an
English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism.[2][3]
Bentham defined as the "fundamental axiom" of his philosophy the principle that "it is the greatest
happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong".[4][5] He became a leading
theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the
development of welfarism. He advocated for individual and economic freedoms, the separation of
church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and the
decriminalising of homosexual acts.[6] He called for the abolition of slavery, of the death penalty, and
of physical punishment, including that of children.[7] He has also become known as an early advocate
of animal rights.[8] Though strongly in favour of the extension of individual legal rights, he opposed
the idea of natural law and natural rights (both of which are considered "divine" or "God-given" in
origin), calling them "nonsense upon stilts".[9] Bentham was also a sharp critic of legal fictions.
Bentham's students included his secretary and collaborator James Mill, the latter's son, John Stuart
Mill, the legal philosopher John Austin, as well as Robert Owen, one of the founders of utopian
socialism. He "had considerable influence on the reform of prisons, schools, poor laws, law courts,
and Parliament itself."[10]
On his death in 1832, Bentham left instructions for his body to be first dissected, and then to be
permanently preserved as an "auto-icon" (or self-image), which would be his memorial. This was
done, and the auto-icon is now on public display at University College London (UCL). Because of his
arguments in favour of the general availability of education, he has been described as the "spiritual
founder" of UCL. However, he played only a limited direct part in its foundation.[11]

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) was a British philosopher, political economist and
civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely
to social theory, political theory and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking
philosopher of the nineteenth century",[6] Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the
individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.[7]
Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy
Bentham. He contributed to the investigation of scientific methodology, though his knowledge of the
topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell, John Herschel and Auguste
Comte, and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain. Mill engaged in written debate with
Whewell.[8]
A member of the Liberal Party, he was also the first Member of Parliament to call for women's
suffrage.[9]

Epicurus
Epicurus (/ˌɛpɪˈkjʊərəs, ˌɛpɪˈkjɔːrəs/;[2] Greek: Ἐπίκουρος, Epíkouros, "ally, comrade"; 341–270 BC)
was an ancient Greek philosopherwho founded a school of philosophy now called Epicureanism.
Only a few fragments and letters of Epicurus's 300 written works remain. Much of what is known
about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized
by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of pain—and by living a self-
sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that the root of all human neurosis was death denial,
and the tendency for human beings to assume that death will be horrific and painful, which he
claimed causes unnecessary anxiety, selfish self-protective behaviors, and hypocrisy. According to
Epicurus, death is the end of both the body and the soul and therefore should not be feared. He also
taught that the gods neither reward nor punish humans; that the universe is infinite and eternal; and
that occurrences in the natural world are ultimately the result of atoms moving and interacting in
empty space.