The 100 Greatest Philosophers - Statistics

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Answer Stats
Interest / Branch Nationality Main Contribution(s) Philosopher % Correct
Mathematics Greek His theorem related to right-angled triangles; the theory of melodical octaves in music. Pythagoras
95%
Ethics Chinese Promoted education as a vocation; his ideas about the hierarchy of the state and loyalty. Confucius
79%
Metaphysics Greek Founded the Academy; helped people recognise what it means to be virtuous. Plato
64%
Epistemology Greek His technique for arguing a point; claimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates
57%
Ethics Roman His 'Meditations' on Stoic philosophy; one of the first 'philosopher kings'. Marcus Aurelius
46%
Biology Greek Invented the field of formal logic; pioneered zoology with his theories on classification. Aristotle
45%
Political Philosophy German "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"; "Religion is the opium of the masses". Karl Marx
42%
Aesthetics German His critique of morality and simultaneous praise and scorn of nihilism; conceived the 'Übermensch' and 'will to power'. Friedrich Nietzsche
41%
Epistemology English Known as the 'father of liberalism'; pioneered the ideas of natural law, social contract, and religious toleration. John Locke
36%
Epistemology French Invented analytical geometry with the use of algebra; made skepticism an essential part of the scientific method. René Descartes
35%
Political Philosophy Italian Argued that politics has no relation to morality; prioritised empirical reasoning over religious dogma. Niccolò Machiavelli
34%
Epistemology Danish Deemed the first existential philosopher; argued that reality is more subjective rather than objective. Søren Kierkegaard
33%
Epistemology German Developed a dialectical scheme emphasising the progress of history; presented self-determination as man's essence. Georg Hegel
31%
Aesthetics German Considered space and time "forms of intuition" in his idealist doctrine; elucidated a priori knowledge of objects. Immanuel Kant
31%
Political Philosophy English Justified government autocracy on the basis of public consent; stated that government's goal is upholding peace. Thomas Hobbes
31%
Asceticism Greek Advocated complete truthfulness at all times; developed cynicism and austere asceticism. Diogenes
30%
Metaphysics Greek Said that fire forms the basic material principle of the universe; formulated the 'Analogy of the River'. Heraclitus
30%
Political Philosophy Genevan Formulated the social contract theory; developed radical ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
30%
Metaphysics Greek His ingenious paradoxes related to motion; considered the founder of the dialectic. Zeno of Elea
30%
Metaphysics Greek The formulation of an atomic theory of the universe; rejected divine intervention in science. Democritus
29%
Political Philosophy British Wrote 'On Liberty': applying utilitarianism to society and state; praised eccentricity as a source of ideals. John Stuart Mill
29%
Political Philosophy French A pioneering figure of contemporary philosophical feminism; asserted that the individual is fundamentally free. Simone de Beauvoir
29%
Christian Theology Roman Adapted Classical thought to Christian teaching; discussed the notions of the soul, creation and evil. Augustine of Hippo
28%
Epistemology French Dsscribed humans' freedom and responsibilities; defined two types of reality in 'Being and Nothingness'. Jean-Paul Sartre
28%
Mathematics German Proposed that the universe is made of an infinite number of "monads"; invented differential and integral calculus. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
27%
Christian Theology Italian The five proofs of God's existence; incorporated Aristotelian philosophy in Christianity in the 'Summa contra Gentiles'. Thomas Aquinas
27%
Epistemology Dutch His pantheistic monism: that God did not create, but forms part of nature; criticised Biblical and Cartesian thought. Baruch Spinoza
26%
Natural Philosophy English Thought to be the father of empiricism; contributed to the development of the scientific method. Francis Bacon
25%
Political Philosophy British Founded modern utilitarianism; his radical political views are associated with the welfare state. Jeremy Bentham
25%
Metaphysics Greek Taught that the basic constituents of the world are atoms; promoted empiricism and hedonism. Epicurus
24%
Aesthetics German Created an atheistic metaphysical system; taught that humans are solely driven to act by the "will". Arthur Schopenhauer
22%
Political Philosophy German Coined the phrase "the banality of evil"; outlined the faculty of human judgment in relation to political systems. Hannah Arendt
22%
Political Philosophy French Promoted the separation of state powers: executive, legislative and judicial; defended private property. Montesquieu
22%
Logic Greek Founded the Stoic school of philosophy; laid significance of the attainment of peace of mind. Zeno of Citium
20%
Logic British Championed analytic philosophy; developed the axiomatic method for logical deduction from basic propositions. Bertrand Russell
19%
Epistemology French Invented 'deconstruction'; developed logocentrism: placing one concept at the centre of theorising meaning. Jacques Derrida
18%
Metaphysics Austrian Wrote on the logical relationship between propositions and the world; advocated a highly restrictive language use. Ludwig Wittgenstein
18%
History French Traced the development of Western civilisation; addressed the relations between power and knowledge. Michel Foucault
18%
Epistemology British Anticipated modern monetarism, such as interest rate; "causes and effects are discoverable by experience". David Hume
17%
Philosophy of Language American Reformed linguistics with such theories as 'Transformational Generative Grammar'; promotes non-interventionism in war. Noam Chomsky
17%
Ontology Greek Invented the method of reasoned proof for assertions; pioneered the field of ontology. Parmenides
17%
Ontology German Established the school of phenomenology; criticised historicism in logic based on intentionality. Edmund Husserl
16%
Metaphysics German Reinvigorated phenomenology and promoted postmodernism; devised a theory for technology. Martin Heidegger
16%
Platonism Roman Developed a spiritual cosmology involving three elements: the One, the Intelligence, and the Soul. Plotinus
16%
Medicine Arab His work 'Al Qanun Fi Al-Tibb' (The Canon of Medicine); his theory of essence posits three modalities. Avicenna
15%
Metaphysics Irish Developed immaterialism - the being of objects "is to be perceived"; stated that one's duty is to obey God's laws. George Berkeley
15%
Ethics Australian Defined ethical actions as those that maximise overall pleasure; wrote on ideals to end global poverty. Peter Singer
15%
Christian Theology Italian Discovering the “ontological argument” for the theory of God in the Proslogion; his doctrine of the atonement. Anselm of Canterbury
14%
Political Philosophy American His "justice as fairness" recommends equal basic liberties to eliminate inequality; devised the 'original position'. John Rawls
14%
Islamic Theology Sephardic Jewish Codified Jewish Law through 'The Guide for the Perplexed'; reconciled Aristotelian philosophy with the Torah. Moses Maimonides
13%
Epistemology French Introduced sociology and positivism; founded the 'Religion of Humanity': a secular belief system. Auguste Comte
12%
Mathematics Roman Leader of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy in Alexandria; her development of geometry. Hypatia
12%
Metaphysics British Argued that reality is a process and not material; his 'Principia Mathematica' is a key work in mathematical logic. Alfred North Whitehead
11%
Epistemology Greek Founded skepticism; advocated the suspension of judgement over the truth of all beliefs and dogma. Pyrrho
11%
Natural Philosophy English Challenged scholasticism and the papacy, partially ending the medieval period; developed the principle of parsimony. William of Ockham
11%
Mathematics German Founded analytic philosophy; held the truths of arithmetic are logical truths in the 'Begriffsschrift'. Gottlob Frege
10%
Metaphysics Scottish Argued that God can create and conserve “prime matter”; the idea of haecceity - giving the individual identity. John Duns Scotus
10%
Ethics Chinese Advocated light taxes, free trade and welfare for the elderly; said that the human nature is good. Mencius
10%
Philosophy of Science American Argued that scientific fields undergo periodic "paradigm shifts"; defined five cognitive values, such as 'precision'. Thomas S. Kuhn
10%
Pragmatism American Advanced the pragmatist movement; posited that emotions arise from physiological responses to external events. William James
10%
Metaphysics French His theory of “duration": the irreducible reality; discussed dualism in 'Matière et mémoire'. Henri Bergson
9%
Epistemology American Leading proponent of pragmatism; reconnected philosophy with the mission of education-for-living. John Dewey
9%
Islamic Theology Andalusian Asserted that humans share the same intellect; contended that philosophy is just the revelation of God's might. Averroës
8%
Biology British Applied evolutionary theory and Darwinism to philosophy; formulated three principles regulating the universe. Herbert Spencer
8%
Social Theory German Argued that technological transformations had bettered society; developed the theory of communicative reason. Jürgeb Habermas
8%
Rationality Austrian Rejected the inductive method in the empirical sciences; replaced critical realism with critical rationalism. Karl Popper
8%
Sociology German Argued that a capitalist society was a consumer society; coined 'identity thinking' to describe categorical thought. Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno
8%
Epistemology British Presented the verification principle as the only valid basis for philosophy; wrote 'Language, Truth and Logic'. A.J. Ayer
7%
Ontology Austrian His work 'Ich und Du' - expressing the dialogue of man with other beings; promoted Zionist thought. Martin Buber
7%
Jewish Theology German Combined Judaism with the rationalism of the Enlightenment; advocated religious toleration. Moses Mendelssohn
7%
Jewish Theology Roman Used philosophy to justify religious teachings in the Torah; combined Jewish exegesis with Stoicism. Philo
7%
Epistemology Italian Invented the philosophy of history; coined the constructivist aphorism "Verum esse ipsum factum". Giambattista Vico
6%
Logic French Argued that God and the universe can be known via logic and emotion; the father of metaphysical nominalism. Peter Abelard
6%
Daoism Chinese Promoted Daoist thought on nature and being; developed ideas on pragmatics and semantics. Zhuang Zhou
6%
Islamic Theology Persian Developed of a systematic view of Sufism; combined Islamic spiritualism and fundamentalism. Al-Ghazālī
5%
Epistemology British Led the turn from idealism to common-sense judgment; advocated non-ethical naturalism. G.E. Moore
5%
Buddhism Indian Articulated the doctrine of emptiness; founded the Madhyamika (“Middle Way”) school. Nagarjuna
5%
Philosophy of Language American Blended philosophy and literature into 'neopragmatism'; advocated sentimental education to promote human rights. Richard Rorty
5%
Logic American Undermined the idea that all propositions are a priori; his semantics for modal logic involving possible worlds. Saul Kripke
5%
Logic American Replaced first-order logic with his system 'New Foundations'; developed an indispensability argument. Willard Van Orman Quine
5%
Hinduism Indian Reformed the Vedanta tradition of Hinduism; founded four monasteries in every corner of India. Adi Shankara
4%
Islamic Theology Arab Propagated philosophy in the Islamic world; founded a metaphysical dualism differentiating body and mind. Al-Kindī
4%
Epistemology Roman Taught that everything is by nature as it desires; developed the idea of autonomous knowledge domains. Boethius
4%
Neo-Confucianism Chinese Stated that the difference between good and evil is intuitive; propagated a genuine understanding of the self. Wang Yangming
4%
Neo-Confucianism Chinese Said that the cosmos has two aspects: the indeterminate and the determinate; systematised the Confucian ideals. Zhu Xi
4%
Metaphysics (Asian) Divided logic into Takhayyul (idea) and Thubut (proof); introduced the theory of the Ten Intelligences. Al-Fārābī
3%
History Italian Coined the circularity among “moments” of the four aspects of spirit; said that art is the expression of emotion. Benedetto Croce
3%
Ethics British Coined the term 'moral luck'; his denial of political moralism, claiming that politics is never regulated by ethics. Bernard Williams
3%
Islamic Theology Andalusian Taught that by self manifestation, one acquires "the primordial spirit of Muhammad"; wrote on Quranic exegesis. Ibn al-'Arabī
3%
Political Philosophy American Pioneered three principles to determine how one deserves something; worked on decision theory. Robert Nozick
3%
Logic German His theory of logical syntax; his book 'Der Raum' established a logical basis for the space-time theory. Rudolf Carnap
3%
Epistemology Greek Stated that the ultimate goal of philosophical research is to achieve ataraxia: a state of peace. Sextus Empiricus
3%
Anthropology German Held that man can only be comprehended by historical knowledge; worked on hermeneutical research. Wilhelm Dilthey
3%
Metaphysics American Argued that states of the mind are simply states of the brain; developed the metaphysics of modality. David Kellogg Lewis
2%
Metaphysics Japanese Taught that the “Non-self ” is the ultimate reality where all subject–object cleavage is overcome. Kitarō Nishida
2%
Political Philosophy French Advocated economic freedom and legal and educational reform; an early abolitionist, transhumanist, and feminist. Nicolas de Condorcet
2%
Hinduism Indian Developed the basis for the bhakti; taught that the phenomenal world is real and provides real knowledge. Rāmānuja
2%
Philosophy of Mind American Dubbed foundationalist epistemology the "Myth of the Given"; described the behavioural web of language. Wilfrid Sellars
2%
Buddhism Japanese Taught that Pure Land Buddhism was the best path to mappō; found reciprocity between Amida and Sakyamuni. Shinran
1%
Neoplatonism Andalusian Posited that all things comprise matter and form (Universal Hylomorphism); influenced Christian Scholasticism. Solomon ibn Gabirol
1%
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