Socrates (/ˈsɒkrətiːz/;[2] Ancient Greek: Σωκρᾰ́της, translit. Sōkrátēs, [sɔːkrátɛːs]; c.

 470 – 399 BC)[3][4] was

a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited 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 Platoand 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 fields of ethics and epistemology. It is
this Platonic Socrates who lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus.
Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and in the modern era. Depictions of Socrates
in art, literature and popular culture have made him one of the most widely known figures in the Western
philosophical tradition.
Plato (/ˈpleɪtoʊ/;[a][1] 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 pivotal figure in the development of Western
philosophy.[2] Unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Plato's entire work is believed to have survived
intact for over 2,400 years.[3]
Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western
philosophy and science.[4] 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." [5] 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.[6]
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.[7]
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 epistemological issues, 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 gener
Immanuel Kant (/kænt/;[15] German: [ʔɪˈmaːnu̯eːl ˈkant, -nu̯ɛl -];[16][17] 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a
German philosopher who is a central figure in modern philosophy.[18] In his doctrine of transcendental idealism, he
argued that space, time and causation are mere sensibilities; "things-in-themselves" exist, but their nature is
unknowable.[19][20] In his view, the mind shapes and structures experience, with all human experience sharing certain
structural features. He drew a parallel to the Copernican revolution in his proposition that worldly objects can be
intuited a priori ("beforehand"), and that intuition is therefore independent from objective reality.[21] Kant believed
that reason is the source of morality, and that aesthetics arise from a faculty of disinterested judgment. Kant's views
continue to have a major influence on contemporary philosophy, especially the fields of epistemology, ethics, political
theory, and post-modern aesthetics.
In one of Kant's major works, the Critique of Pure Reason (1781),[22] 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 showing the way past the impasse
between rationalists and empiricists which philosophy had led to,[23] and is widely held to have synthesized both
traditions in his thought.[18]
René Descartes (/deɪˈkɑːrt/, UK also /ˈdeɪkɑːrt/;[15] French: [ʁəne dekaʁt]; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; adjectival
form: "Cartesian";[16] 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. A
native of the Kingdom of France, he spent about 20 years (1629–49) of his life in the Dutch Republic after serving for
a while in the Dutch States Army of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and the Stadtholder of the United
Provinces. He is generally considered one of the most notable intellectual figures of the Dutch Golden Age.[17]
Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) continues to be a standard text at most university philosophy
departments. Descartes' influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian coordinate system (see below)
was named after him. He is credited as the father of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry,
used in the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key figures in the Scientific
Revolution.
Descartes refused to accept the authority of previous philosophers. He frequently set his views apart from those of
his predecessors. In the opening section of the Passions of the Soul, an early modern treatise on emotions,
Descartes goes so far as to assert that he will write on this topic "as if no one had written on these matters before".
His best known philosophical statement is "I think, therefore I am" (French: Je pense, donc je suis; Latin: Ego cogito,
ergo sum), found in Discourse on the Method (1637; written in French and Latin) and Principles of Philosophy (1644;
written in Latin).

John Locke FRS (/lɒk/; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and
physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and
commonly known as the "Father of Liberalism".[9][10][11] Considered one of the first of the
British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social
contract theory. His work greatly affected the development of epistemology and political
philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, many Scottish
Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical
republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of
Independence.[12]
Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self,
figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as David Hume, Rousseau,
and Immanuel Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness.
He postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary
to Cartesian philosophy based on pre-existing concepts, he maintained that we are born
without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experiencederived
from sense perception.[13] This is now known as empiricism. An example of Locke's belief in
empiricism can be seen in his quote, "whatever I write, as soon as I discover it not to be true, my
hand shall be the forwardest to throw it into the fire." This shows the ideology of science in his
observations in that something must be capable of being tested repeatedly and that nothing is
exempt from being disproven. Challenging the work of others, Locke is said to have established
the method of introspection, or observing the emotions and behaviours of one's self.[14]
‘

David Hume (/hjuːm/; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish
Enlightenmentphilosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential
system of philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism.[1] Hume's empiricist approach to philosophy places
him with John Locke, George Berkeley, Francis Baconand Thomas Hobbes as a British Empiricist.[8] Beginning with
his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total naturalistic science of man that examined the
psychological basis of human nature. Against philosophical rationalists, Hume held that passion rather than reason
governs human behaviour. Hume argued against the existence of innate ideas, positing that all human knowledge is
founded solely in experience; Hume thus held that genuine knowledge must either be directly traceable to objects
perceived in experience, or result from abstract reasoning about relations between ideas which are derived from
experience, calling the rest "nothing but sophistry and illusion", [9] a dichotomy later given the name Hume's fork.
In what is sometimes referred to as Hume's problem of induction, he argued that inductive reasoning and belief
in causality cannot be justified rationally; instead, our trust in causality and induction result from custom and mental
habit, and are attributable only to the experience of "constant conjunction" of events. This is because we can never
actually perceive that one event causes another, but only that the two are always conjoined. Accordingly, to draw any
causal inferences from past experience it is necessary to presuppose that the future will resemble the past, a
presupposition which cannot itself be grounded in prior experience. [10]

The Bible (from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία, tà biblía, "the books")[1] is a collection of sacred texts or
scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of
the relationship between God and humans. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, it
is widely considered to be the most influential and best-selling book of all time.[2][3][4][5]
Many different authors contributed to the Bible. What is regarded as canonical text differs
depending on traditions and groups; a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping
and diverging contents.[6] The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the
Greek Septuagint; the Hebrew Bible is known in Judaism as the Tanakh. The New Testament is
a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ,
written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist
of Gospels, letters, and apocalyptic writings. Among Christian denominations there is some
disagreement about what should be included in the canon, primarily about the Apocrypha, a list
of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect.
Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups. Roman Catholics, high
church Anglicans and Eastern OrthodoxChristians stress the harmony and importance of the
Bible and sacred tradition, while Protestant churches, including Evangelical Anglicans, focus on
the idea of sola scriptura, or scripture alone. This concept arose during the Protestant
Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of
Christian teaching.
The Bible has been a massive influence on literature and history, especially in the Western
World, where the Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed using movable type.[2] According to
the March 2007 edition of Time, the Bible "has done more to shape literature, history,
entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world history is
unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating."[2] As of the 2000s, it sells approximately 100
million copies annually.[7][8]

Saint Augustine of Hippo (/ɔːˈɡʌstɪn/; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430 AD)[1] was a Roman African,
early Christian theologian and philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of Western
Christianity and Western philosophy. He was the bishop of Hippo Regius in north Africa and is viewed as one of the
most important Church Fathers in Western Christianity for his writings in the Patristic Period. Among his most
important works are The City of God, On Christian Doctrine and Confessions.
According to his contemporary Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith".[a] In his youth he was drawn
to Manichaeismand later to neo-Platonism. After his baptism and conversion to Christianity in 386, Augustine
developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a variety of methods and
perspectives.[2] Believing that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped formulate the
doctrine of original sin and made seminal contributions to the development of just war theory. When the Western
Roman Empire began to disintegrate, Augustine imagined the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the
material Earthly City.[3] His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview. The segment of the Church that
adhered to the concept of the Trinity as defined by the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople[4] closely
identified with Augustine's On the Trinity.
Sigmund Freud (/frɔɪd/ FROYD;[3] German: [ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt]; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23
September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for
treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. [4]
Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian Empire. He qualified as a
doctor of medicine in 1881 at the University of Vienna.[5][6] Upon completing his habilitation in 1885, he was appointed
a docent in neuropathology and became an affiliated professor in 1902.[7] Freud lived and worked in Vienna, having
set up his clinical practice there in 1886. In 1938 Freud left Austria to escape the Nazis. He died in exile in the United
Kingdom in 1939.
In creating psychoanalysis, Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and
discovered transference, establishing its central role in the analytic process. Freud's redefinition of sexuality to
include its infantile forms led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical
theory.[8] His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical analysis of symptom
formation and the underlying mechanisms of repression. On this basis Freud elaborated his theory of
the unconscious and went on to develop a model of psychic structure comprising id, ego and super-ego.[9] Freud
postulated the existence of libido, a sexualised energy with which mental processes and structures are invested and
which generates erotic attachments, and a death drive, the source of compulsive repetition, hate, aggression
and neurotic guilt.[10] In his later works, Freud developed a wide-ranging interpretation and critique of religion and
cultu EVENTHOUGH