(341 – 270 BCE)
Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher. He is often cited as a precursor of modern Humanism, but very little of his teachings have survived except in the recollections of his later followers, in particular in De Rerum Natura by the Roman poet Lucretius.
This epitaph, based on his philosophy, can still be seen [...]
Categories: People, philosopher
(21 September 1929–10 June 2003)
Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was an English moral philosopher, described by The Times as the “most brilliant and most important British moral philosopher of his time”.
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(4 November 1873 – 24 October 1958)
George E Moore was a distinguished and influential English philosopher.
A friend of Bertrand Russell, influenced a whole generation of Cambridge graduates, including E.M. Forster and members of the Bloomsbury group.
In Principia Ethica, he explored the idea that goodness is a quality one can experience intuitively, and a fundamental concept that [...]
Categories: People, philosopher
(5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883)
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German political philosopher who wrote about economics and politics. His ideas played a significant role in the development of modern communism.
Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, would inevitably produce internal tensions which would lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, [...]
Categories: People, activist, philosopher
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See also…
C.L.R. James Institute
Categories: People, philosopher
(baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790)
Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economics.
He was one of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment and was part of a brilliant intellectual circle that included David Hume, John Home, Lord Hailes and William Robertson.
In 1764, Smith left Glasgow to travel [...]
Categories: People, philosopher
(29 October 1910 – 27 June 1989)
Sir Alfred Jules Ayer, better known as A. J. Ayer was a British philosopher known for his promotion of logical positivism. He was also President of the British Humanist Association (BHA) from 1965-70.
Ayer wrote in his Language, Truth and Logic that all religious and metaphysical statements were either nonsense [...]
Categories: People, activist, philosopher
(27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797)
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and feminist.
Wollstonecraft was a remarkable woman. In her thinking she was ahead of her time to an extraordinary degree. She lived in the eighteenth century when women’s lives were very restricted, but wrote in favour of women’s rights.
She spoke in favour [...]
Categories: People, activist, philosopher, writer, novelist, poet
(21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778)
Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) was a French writer of essays, plays, stories, poetry, history, science.
Voltaire was much impressed by the toleration he saw on a visit to England, and campaigned for religious tolerance, constitutionalism, and judicial reform in France. Attributed to him are the famous words on free speech:
“I [...]
Categories: People, philosopher, writer, novelist, poet
(7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776)
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher and historian, regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
Hume was an empiricist, arguing that we should only believe those things for which we have good evidence, and has been a major influence [...]
Categories: People, philosopher
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