Famous Philosophers Of The 20th Century

List of famous philosophers of the 20th century along with their biographies that include trivia, interesting facts, timeline and life history.

What is an emotion? Is love just a feeling? Are our emotions irrational? What is life? Is it better to have choices? Does God actually exist? If yes, then why is there so much evil? Are you propounded by such philosophical questions in your mind? If yes, then your mind and heart surely takes a philosophical route whenever free. Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. First termed by Pythagoras, philosophy encompasses a huge body of knowledge. From the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century ‘natural philosophy’, there has been a phenomenal growth in the subject. In the 20th century, philosophy increasingly became professionalized as the period witnessed the development of a number of new philosophical schools including logical positivism, analytic philosophy, phenomenology, existentialism, and post-structuralism. Interestingly, the philosophy of the 20th century is known as contemporary philosophy. The era saw some of greatest minds at work in the field of philosophy starting from Bertrand Russell, Gilbert Ryle, Alfred Tarski, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Leo Strauss, Ernst Cassirer, José Juan González, John Dewey and so on. With this segment, explore some of the famous philosophers of the 20th century.
Noam ChomskyNoam Chomsky

07 December 1928

American

Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II

18 May 1920

Polish

Kurt GödelKurt Gödel

28 April 1906

American

Alan WattsAlan Watts

06 January 1915

British,American

Albert CamusAlbert Camus

07 November 1913

Algerian,French

Michel FoucaultMichel Foucault

15 October 1926

French

Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Sartre

21 June 1905

French

Deng XiaopingDeng Xiaoping

22 August 1904

Chinese

Terence McKennaTerence McKenna

16 November 1946

American

Simone de BeauvoirSimone de Beauvoir

09 January 1908

French

John DeweyJohn Dewey

20 October 1859

American

Amartya SenAmartya Sen

03 November 1933

Indian

Hannah ArendtHannah Arendt

14 October 1906

German

Jacques DerridaJacques Derrida

15 July 1930

Algerian,French

Karl PopperKarl Popper

28 July 1902

British

Peter SingerPeter Singer

06 July 1946

Australian

Umberto EcoUmberto Eco

05 January 1932

Italian

Albert SchweitzerAlbert Schweitzer

14 January 1875

French

John RawlsJohn Rawls

21 February 1921

American

Daniel DennettDaniel Dennett

28 March 1942

American

Roland BarthesRoland Barthes

12 November 1915

French

Paulo FreirePaulo Freire

19 September 1921

Brazilian

Peter KropotkinPeter Kropotkin

09 December 1842

Russian

Alain de BottonAlain de Botton

20 December 1969

Swiss,British

George SantayanaGeorge Santayana

16 December 1863

Spanish,Italian

Murray RothbardMurray Rothbard

02 March 1926

American

Christina Hoff SommersChristina Hoff Sommers

28 September 1950

American

Ken WilberKen Wilber

31 January 1949

American

Robert M. PirsigRobert M. Pirsig

06 September 1928

American

Francis SchaefferFrancis Schaeffer

30 January 1912

American

Allan BloomAllan Bloom

14 September 1930

American

Abraham Joshua HeschelAbraham Joshua Heschel

11 January 1907

Polish

Imre LakatosImre Lakatos

09 November 1922

Hungarian

Dallas WillardDallas Willard

04 September 1935

American

Abdolkarim SoroushAbdolkarim Soroush

16 December 1945

Iranian

Bob BlackBob Black

04 January 1951

American

L Ron HubbardL Ron Hubbard

13 March 1911

American

RajneeshRajneesh

11 December 1931

Indian

Sam HarrisSam Harris

09 April 1967

American

Marshall McLuhanMarshall McLuhan

21 July 1911

Canadian

John MajorJohn Major

29 March 1943

British

Steven PinkerSteven Pinker

18 September 1954

Canadian,American

James RandiJames Randi

07 August 1928

American

Judith ButlerJudith Butler

24 February 1956

American

Antonio GramsciAntonio Gramsci

22 January 1891

Italian

Stefan MolyneuxStefan Molyneux

24 September 1966

Canadian

Wilhelm ReichWilhelm Reich

24 March 1897

Austrian,American

Pier Paolo PasoliniPier Paolo Pasolini

05 March 1922

Italian

Pierre BourdieuPierre Bourdieu

01 August 1930

French

Cornel WestCornel West

02 June 1953

American

Jürgen HabermasJürgen Habermas

18 June 1929

German

Roger PenroseRoger Penrose

08 August 1931

British

Jean BaudrillardJean Baudrillard

27 July 1929

French

Gilles DeleuzeGilles Deleuze

18 January 1925

French

Theodor W. AdornoTheodor W. Adorno

11 September 1903

German,American

Erich FrommErich Fromm

23 March 1900

German

Louis AlthusserLouis Althusser

16 October 1918

French

Tariq RamadanTariq Ramadan

26 August 1962

Swiss

Isaiah BerlinIsaiah Berlin

06 June 1909

Latvian,British

Vandana ShivaVandana Shiva

05 November 1952

Indian

Martha NussbaumMartha Nussbaum

06 May 1947

American

Ahmed DeedatAhmed Deedat

01 July 1918

Indian

Roger ScrutonRoger Scruton

17 February 1944

British

Iris MurdochIris Murdoch

15 July 1919

Irish

Carl SchmittCarl Schmitt

11 July 1888

German

Julia KristevaJulia Kristeva

24 June 1941

Bulgarian,French

Robert NozickRobert Nozick

16 November 1938

American

Douglas HofstadterDouglas Hofstadter

15 February 1945

American

Michael HallidayMichael Halliday

13 April 1925

Australian,British

Nick BostromNick Bostrom

10 March 1973

Swedish

William Lane CraigWilliam Lane Craig

23 August 1949

American

Gayatri Chakravorty SpivakGayatri Chakravorty Spivak

24 February 1942

Indian

Maurice Merleau-PontyMaurice Merleau-Ponty

14 March 1908

French

John SearleJohn Searle

31 July 1932

American

Emil CioranEmil Cioran

08 April 1911

French,Romanian

Robert Anton WilsonRobert Anton Wilson

18 January 1932

American

R. C. SproulR. C. Sproul

13 February 1939

American

Georges BatailleGeorges Bataille

10 September 1897

French

Israr AhmedIsrar Ahmed

26 April 1932

Pakistani

Murray BookchinMurray Bookchin

14 January 1921

American

Mikhail BakhtinMikhail Bakhtin

17 November 1895

Russian

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