Philosophers have always been called sages. In antiquity, it was they who were engaged in mathematics, medicine, astronomy. They have become part of our global experience.
It is from philosophers that we learn things that are important to us. The sage will not stop asking questions until he knows all the answers. With the help of philosophy, we can better understand the world and the place of man in it. Introducing 10 the most famous philosophers of the world.
10. Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher (1788-1860). He was famous bachelor with sharp judgments. His hallmarks were ambition and suspiciousness, he was very suspicious, did not trust people.
Like other famous philosophers, he read many books. He believed that the essence of personality is a will, for him the will was the beginning of any being.
He believed that happiness is a deliverance from suffering (and suffering comes from desire), but even this deliverance is replaced by boredom. It turns out that suffering is inevitable, and happiness is just an illusion.
Evil reigns in the world, and you can get rid of it only with the help of asceticism. His main work is “The World as a Will and a Representation”.
9. Benedict Spinoza
Dutch philosopher, one of the main representatives of the New Age (1632-1677). He began by studying the works of Jewish philosophers, continued his studies at a private college in van den Enden, where he improves his knowledge.
Students and friends began to gather around him, but the municipal authorities decided that he was a threat to piety and morality and forced him to leave Amsterdam.
He writes treatises "The Foundations of Descartes' Philosophy", "Metaphysical Thoughts" and others. The great thinker died of tuberculosis at age 44.
Spinoza believed that the substance is independent and infinite, thanks to it things become real and exist. This is the root cause of God. But God for Spinoza is the essence of things, he is in things, as a creative and acting nature. He submits only to his inner necessity.
About the body and spirit, he said that they are 2 sides of one whole. The philosopher rejected free will, and even the very existence of will. For him there was no good and evil, everything is already perfect. The main thing is self-preservation.
If a person has managed to know himself, he can merge with God's essence, peace and nature, and the highest virtue and good is love and knowledge of God. Only cognitive activity is moral.
8. Marcus Aurelius
Roman emperor, philosopher (121 -180). He received an excellent education. At 25, he became interested in philosophy. In 161, he began to co-rule with Lucius Verus, and after his death in 169 he remained the only ruler.
By his order, 4 departments of philosophy appeared in Athens. After him remained philosophical notes, i.e. 12 chapters of a book in Greek called Reasoning About Yourself.
He pays the greatest attention to ethics. If before him it was believed that a person is a body and soul, then Marcus Aurelius also adds intelligence. He called it the dominant principle. It was from him that the source of impulses that are needed for man came.
If you bring your mind in harmony with nature, you can achieve dispassion, namely, agreement with the universal mind - this is happiness.
7. Parmenides
This is the founder of the Elea school, a famous ancient Greek philosopher (540 BC - 470 BC). His main work is the poem “On Nature”. He was one of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece. He is known for his theory of knowledge.
The main thread that passes through his teachings is the philosophy of being. He thinks that apart from being, nothing exists, and the conceivable - this is part of being. So the theory of knowledge is built.
He was worried about the question of whether it is possible to verify the existence of being, if this cannot be verified. Being and thought are closely related, therefore, the logical conclusion is that it exists.
6. Voltaire
Many know him as a prose writer and poet. But he was not only a writer, but also a French philosopher-educator.
Voltaire (1694-1778) was the son of an official and earned money in the palaces of aristocrats, was a parasite poet. For satirical verses he ended up in the Bastille, and because of intrigue he found himself in it a second time, but was released on one condition: he had to go abroad.
After moving to England, he studied its literature and philosophy, after which he wrote "Philosophical Letters." But he was persecuted for them, as well as for other literary works.
He soon settled in Fern. This place became a place of pilgrimage for the intelligentsia; kings sought their friendship. Voltaire was a supporter of empiricism.
His main work is Pocket Philosophical Dictionary, where he opposes religion and idealism. He believed that everyone has the right to property, freedom, security and equality. But positive laws are needed because "People are evil."
Voltaire was sure that there should be inequality in society, i.e. should be rich and educated and those who will work for them.
Other than that he was convinced monarchist. Voltaire did not deny that God exists, he considered him a kind of engineer who created the world and continues to harmonize it.
5. Rene Descartes
French philosopher, known as the creator of algebraic symbolism and analytic geometry.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) came from an impoverished noble family. He formulated his method of cognition as deductive. Descartes is considered the founder of rationalism. He proved that in cognition, the main role is played by the mind.
He came up with the theory of dualism, which helped to try on the materialistic and idealistic trends. He put forward an interesting theory of innate ideas.
He believed that the mind is primary, and doubt is a property of thought. If a person doubts, then he thinks. Thinking is the result of the work of the mind, and, accordingly, the basis of being is the mind.
His most famous books are “The Principles of Philosophy”, “Reasoning on the Method”, “Reflections on the First Philosophy”.
4. Diogenes
Famous ancient Greek philosopher (412 BC 323 BC). Not much is known about his life.
The main source of information is the book of the popular, often unreliable anecdotes of Diogenes Laertius. According to this source, Diogenes was the son of a money changer. Once he went to Delphi to the oracle to ask what he should do in life.
He advised starting a reassessment of values. At first, he did not understand this saying, thought that it was about re-minting coins. But after the exile he chose the difficult path of philosophy.
He went to Athens, where he became a student of Antisthenes. He lived in a large clay vessel designed to store grain or wine (the ancient Greeks did not make barrels).
is he wrote 14 essays, among which there are both philosophical works “On Virtue”, “On Good”, and tragedy.
He was for asceticism, comparing a person with a mouse that does not strive for anything, is not afraid of anything, and it needs a little. He had no property except a staff and a bag, sometimes Diogenes barefoot walked in the snow. The main idea of his teaching: happiness is independence and freedom.
3. Aristotle
The ancient Greek philosopher (384 BC-322 BC), one of the students of Plato, who was involved in the education of Alexander the Great.
He was one of the first thinkers who founded Likey. He was the educator of Alexander the Great, the ancestor of psychology.
Aristotle believed that matter is indestructible, eternal and unalignable. It does not arise out of nothing, cannot increase or decrease.
But matter is passive, in it there is only the possibility of things. One can write a book about Aristotle; in a nutshell, it is difficult to tell about his teachings. One of his works is Metaphysics.
2. Plato
The ancient Greek philosopher (427 BC-347 BC), who studied under Socrates and taught Aristotle himself. His works are preserved completely. His most famous work is the Platonic Corps.
He said that material things are changeable, inconsistent and eventually cease to exist.
But pure ideas exist really, and any thing is a material reflection of the original idea. The whole world is an image of pure ideas.
1. Confucius
The thinker and philosopher from China (551 BC 479 BC). His teachings formed the basis of the system - Confucianism. He was able to establish the first university, put in order all the annals.
The basis of Confucianism was creation of a harmonious society, which was to be built on an ancient model.
It was he who was able to formulate the basic rule of ethics, which states that a person does not need to do what he does not want for himself.
His most famous book is “Lun Yu,” which translates as “Conversations and Judgments.”