Can you name the World's 100 Greatest Philosophers?

created by Almasa
  • Enter a Philosopher (last names acceptable) in the box below
  • Correctly named Philosophers will show up below
  • Answers do not have to be guessed in order
  • Source: World Greatest Philosophers
  • Name the philosopher based on the dates they were alive and what (works, concepts or contributions) they are notable for.
  • This quiz has not been verified by Sporcle
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YearsPhilosopherNotable For:
624-546 BCEfirst philosopher / water is the physis
fl. 600 BCE'On Nature' / 'The Way of Truth'
570-495 BCETriangle Theorem / 'the golden ratio'
563-483 BCEFounded Buddhism / established 'Four Noble Truths'
551-479 BCE'Analects' / the golden rule
544-496 BCE'Art of War' / military strategy
535-475 BCE'you cannot step twice in the same river' / Logos
fl. 500 BCE'Tao Te Ching' / Wu wei
490-430 BCEhis Paradoxes / 'inventor of dialectic'a
470-391 BCEfounded Mohism / moral teachings
469-399 BCEPlato's teacher / his titular 'method'
428-348 BCE'The Republic' / Allegory of the Cave
385-302 BCEThe Four Beginnings / Interpretations of Confucius
384-322 BCEAlexander the Great's teacher / 'Nicomachean Ethics'
341-270 BCEpleasure as absence of suffering / Atomist philosopher
fl. 300 BCE'Elements' / namesake geometry
106-43 BCE'Phillipics' / 'De Inventione'
121-180'Meditations' / stoic Roman emperor
150-250founded Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism / 'Prajnaparamita sutras'
354-430'City of God' / 'Confessions'
480-524'Consolation of Philosophy' / the wheel of fortune
788-820introduced Advaita Vedanta / founded Dashanami Sampradaya
980-1037father of modern medicine / 'The Book of Healing
1017-1137leading expounder of Viśiṣṭādvaita / 'Brahma Sutras'
1033-1109Ontological argument / founder of scholasticism
1126-1198Aristotlianism with Islam / 'The Incoherence of the Incoherence'
1135-1204'Mishneh Torah' / 'The Guide for the Perplexed'
1181-1226Founded the Franciscan Order / 'Canticle of the Sun'
1225-1274'Summa Theologica'/ 'Summa Contra Gentiles'
1288-1348his 'razor' / Nominalism
1466-1536'The Praise of Folly' / 'Handbook of a Christian Knight'
1469-1527'The Prince' / Discourses on Livy
1478-1535'Utopia' / 'Letter Against Frith'
1561-1626'Novum Organum' / 'New Atlantis'
YearsPhilosopherNotable For:
1564-1642'Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems' / namesake satellites and moons
1588-1679'Leviathan' / divine right of kings
1596-1650'Meditations on First Philosophy' / Cogito Ergo Sum
1601-1665namesake 'last theorem' / the 'little theorem'
1623-1662namesake 'wager' / 'Lettres Provinciales'
1632-1677'Ethics' / separation of church and state
1632-1704'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding' / 'Two Treatise of Government'
1643-1727universal gravitation / 'Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica'
1646-1716'Monadologie' / Infinitesimal calculus
1685-1753'Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous' / 'An Essay Towards a New Theory on Vision'
1689-1755'Spirit of the Laws' / 'Persian Letters'
1694-1778'Candide' / 'Zadig'
1711-1776'An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding' / 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion'
1712-1778Noble-Savage / 'The Social Contract'
1713-1784'Encyclopédie' / 'Jacques the Fatalist and his Master'
1723-1790'The Wealth of Nations' / 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments'
1724-1804'Critique of Pure Reason' / Categorical imperative
1729-1797'Reflections on the Revolution in France' / 'Thoughts and Details on Scarcity'
1743-1805'Natural Theology' / the watchmaker analogy
1748-1832the Panopticon / Greatest happiness principle
1759-1797'A Vindication of the Rights of Women' / ' Thoughts on the Education of Daughters'
1759-1805'The Robbers' / 'William Tell'
1760-1825early french socialism / 'Nouveau Christianisme'
1762-1814'Addresses to the German Nation' / 'The Way Towards the Blessed Life'
1766-1834'An Essay on the Principle of Population' / 'The Nature of Rent'
1770-1831'Phenomenology of Spirit' / 'Philosophy of History'
1788-1860'On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason' / 'The World as Will and Representation'
1798-1857Coined the term 'sociology' / developed 'Positivism'
1803-1882'Self-Reliance' / 'Nature'
1804-1872Religion as the outward projection of man's inner nature / 'Essence of Christianity'
1805-1859'Democracy in America' / 'The Old Regime and the Revolution'
1806-1873'Utilitarianism' / 'On Liberty'
1813-1855'Either/Or' / 'Fear and Trembling'
1817-1862'Walden' / 'Civil Disobedience'
YearsPhilosopherNotable For:
1818-1883'Communist Manifesto' / 'Das Kapital'
1820-1903coined 'survival of the fittest' / 'Principles of Biology'
1838-1916'The Science of Mechanics' / namesake 'waves','principle', and 'number'
1839-1914founder of pragmatism / 'How to Make Our Ideas Clear'
1842-1910'Pragmatism' / 'Principles of Psychology'
1844-1900'Thus Spake Zarathustra' / God is Dead
1848-1923namesake 'efficiency' and 'principle' /'Trattato di Sociologia Generale'
1848-1925founder of analytic philosophy / 'Concept and Object'
1856-1939'id/ego/super-ego' / 'The Interpretation of Dreams'
1857-1929'Theory of the Leisure Class' / 'conspicuous consumption'
1858-1917'Suicide' / 'The Division of Labour in Society'
1859-1938'Logical Investigations' / founder of phenomenology
1859-1952'The Public and Its Problems' / Instrumentalism
1863-1931'Mind, Self and Society' / the generalized other
1863-1952'Scepticism and Animal Faith' / 'The Realms of Being'
1864-1920'Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism' / 'Economy and Society'
1872-1970'Principia Mathematica' / 'Why I am Not a Christian'
1873-1958'Principia Ethica' / 'here is a hand'
1889-1951'Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus' / 'Philosophical Investigations'
1889-1976'Being and Time' / Dasein
1902-1994Falsifiability / 'open society'
1905-1982'Atlas Shrugged' / 'The Fountainhead'
1905-1980'No Exit' / 'Being and Nothingness'
1906-1975'The Human Condition' / 'Origins of Totalitarianism'
1906-1978his two 'incompleteness theorems' / ontological proof
1908-1986'The Second Sex' / ' The Mandarins'
1908-2000'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' / 'Word and Object'
1913-1960'The Myth of Sisyphus' / 'L'Etranger'
1921-2002'A Theory of Justice' / 'veil of ignorance'
1926-1984Panopticism / 'The History of Sexuality'
1930-2004Deconstruction / 'Of Grammatology'
1941-2001'On the Plurality of Worlds' / modal realist stance
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World's 100 Greatest Philosophers Quiz

  1. by Almasa
  • Created Jan 1, 2011 in Literature
  • Game Plays 3,085

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