One Hundred Philosophers: The Life and Work of the World's Greatest Thinkers

For some of the world's great thinkers, including Aristotle, Aquinas, and Hegel, philosophy is a vast system of fixed, capital-T Truth for humankind to discover, explore and comprehend. For others, even among those with philosophies as diverse as William James and Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosophy is simply a tool, or a process for ascertaining individual factual truths specific to a given time and place. It is often said that if you ask any ten philosophers to define their subject, you're likely to get ten different answers. Here, presented for non-specialist readers, is an easy-to-understand survey of ideas put forth by 100 important philosophers, from the pre-Socratics of ancient Greece to the analytic philosophers of the present day. Each thinker is summarized in a single illustrated page, or in many instances, in a two-page spread. Each entry includes the philosopher's birth and death dates, titles of major works, major influences, a capsule biographical sketch, and a brief summary of his or her most important ideas. In addition to philosophers in our own Western tradition, readers will find Chinese sages, including Confucius and Lao-tzu, the Indian Buddhist philosopher Ngrjuna, and thinkers representing other cultures. Just a few of the 100 important thinkers represented in this book are:

• Plato
• Aristotle
• Augustine of Hippo
• Roger Bacon
• Thomas Aquinas
• Thomas Hobbes
• John Locke
• Rene Descartes
• Baruch Spinoza
• Immanuel Kant
• G.W.F. Hegel
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• William James
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Martin Heidegger
• Jean-Paul Sartre
• Alfred Jules Ayer
• Willard V.O. Quine
• Thomas Kuhn
• Donald Davidson
• and many others

The text is enhanced with more than 250 illustrations and a glossary of philosophical terms.

[back cover copy]

As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” How better to begin a life’s examination than with the most influential philosophers from Ancient Greece and China to the present day.

Many questions that philosophers have asked down the centuries continue to hold sway today, and are reflected in the great debates of our time. What is the nature of good and evil? What is the meaning of existence, and who are we really? For thousands of years philosophers have struggled with questions such as these, weighing every thought against virtually every rational alternative. Who were the men and women whom we call the great philosophers? This fascinating book examines the lives and thoughts of 100 philosophers who have changed the way we view the world.

Discover the true stories of the world’s greatest thinkers and philosophers, from both East and West. Presented chronologically by year of birth, 100 philosophers are profiled with sketches of their personal life, a summary of the development of their thought, and some of the conclusions they reached.

Peter J. King (D.Phil. Oxford) is Lecturer in Philosophy at Pembroke College, Oxford, and has taught philosophy at the University of Reading, the University of North London, and Birkbeck and King’s Colleges, London. He has published academic papers in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and philosophical logic, as well as more popular articles on political philosophy and parapsychology. He’s currently working on an introduction to the philosophy of religion. He is a member of the Humanist Philosophers’ Group.

The text is enhanced with more than 250 illustrations and a glossary of philosophical terms.