My Most Influential Philosophers

The Top Ten
  1. Diogenes

  2. Rene Descartes

    René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who developed analytic geometry, linking the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra. He is also known for his philosophical statement, Cogito, ergo sum, or I think, therefore I am. Descartes is often regarded as a foundational... read more

  3. Plato

  4. Karl Marx

    Karl Marx (5 May 1818-14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, critic of political economy, economist, historian, political theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known works are the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, co-written with Friedrich Engels, and the three-volume Das... read more

  5. Friedrich Nietzsche

    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, and classical philologist whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history. He is best known for concepts such as the will to power, the Übermensch, and the declaration that God... read more

  6. Pierre Proudhon

  7. Sigmund Freud

    Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. He introduced key concepts such as the unconscious mind, defense mechanisms, and the significance... read more

  8. Aleister Crowley

    Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He is most famous for founding Thelema, a religious and philosophical movement, in the early 20th century. Crowley identified himself as a prophet chosen to guide humanity into a new spiritual era... read more

  9. Henry David Thoreau

  10. Emma Goldman