Great Thinkers

Meet the great minds whose ideas have shaped the world — philosophers, scientists, artists, leaders, and revolutionaries whose thinking still matters today.

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Subject: Philosophy × Era: Early Modern ×
Philosophy
Adam Smith
1723-1790 · Scotland, United Kingdom
Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher and economist. He was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and studied at the University of Glasgow and then at…
Financial literacy Ethical thinking Critical thinking Entrepreneurship and innovation +1
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but…"
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Philosophy
Baruch Spinoza
1632-1677 · Netherlands (Portuguese Jewish family)
Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher. He is one of the most important thinkers of the early modern period. He was born on 24 November…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Scientific thinking +1
"God, or Nature."
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Philosophy
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
1770-1831 · Germany
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher. He was the last of the great system-builders in Western philosophy. He was born on 27 August…
Critical thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Creative expression +1
"The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk."
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Philosophy
Immanuel Kant
1724-1804 · Prussia (Germany)
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher. He is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. He was born on 22…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity."
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Philosophy
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1712-1778 · Geneva (now Switzerland) and France
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a philosopher and writer. He is one of the most important thinkers of the European Enlightenment. He was born on 28 June…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains."
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Philosophy
Jeremy Bentham
1748-1832 · England
Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher and legal reformer. He was the founder of modern utilitarianism. He was born on 15 February 1748 in London,…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Problem solving Research skills +1
"It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong."
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Philosophy
John Locke
1632-1704 · England
John Locke was an English philosopher. He is one of the most influential political thinkers in world history. He was born on 29 August 1632…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Scientific thinking +1
"All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."
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Philosophy
Mary Anning
1799-1847 · England
Mary Anning (1799-1847) was an English fossil collector and self-taught palaeontologist whose discoveries on the cliffs of Lyme Regis in Dorset transformed scientific understanding of…
Scientific thinking Research skills Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The world has used me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone."
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Philosophy
Thomas Hobbes
1588–1679 · England, United Kingdom
Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was an English philosopher who lived through one of the most turbulent periods in British history — the English Civil War, the…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Collaboration
"The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
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Philosophy
Zera Yacob
c. 1599-c. 1692 · Ethiopia
Zera Yacob was an Ethiopian philosopher of the seventeenth century. His main work is a short book called the Hatata, which means 'inquiry' or 'investigation'.…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"All men are equal in the presence of God; and all are intelligent since they are his creatures."
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