Thomas Reid (1710-1796) THEMES ON THIS PAGE:  1. COMMON SENSE 2. HUMAN POWERS 3. GRANDEUR Thomas Reid (1710-1796) was a Scottish philosopher and the father of modern “common-sense philo...

RENÉ DESCARTES I am a thing which thinks René Descartes (1596-1650), an important French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, is considered the father of modern philosophy. Under his influence, ...

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) THEMES ON THIS PAGE: 1. SOLITUDE2. ON HUMAN INCONSISTENCY3. FRIENDSHIP4. LIFE´S PLEASURE 5. DEATH  Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was an influential French p...

Gottfried Leibniz – The philosophical insight of a teenager Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was an important German philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. In mathematics, he discovered diffe...

John Locke – From a friendly conversation to a major philosophy book   John Locke (1632-1704) was an important English philosopher, a major thinker of empiricism and of liberalism. He studied cla...

EDMUND BURKE The Terror of the Sublime Edmund Burke (1729–1797) was a British philosopher and politician. He grew up in Dublin, Ireland, which was then part of Britain, and after college education mov...

JEREMY BENTHAM Right actions bring happiness Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), an English philosopher and social reformer, was one of the main thinkers in the history of modern ethics. He was the first to f...