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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34 thinkers
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Era: Medieval × Page 2 of 2
Literature
Murasaki Shikibu
c. 973-c. 1014 · Japan
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese writer and lady of the imperial court. She is the author of The Tale of Genji, often called the world's…
Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence Critical thinking +1
"At the court of an emperor (he lived it matters not when), there was among the many gentlewomen of the…"
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Literature
Niccolò Machiavelli
1469-1527 · Florence (Italy)
Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian writer, diplomat, and political thinker. He was born in 1469 in Florence, then a powerful Italian city-state. His family was…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Creative expression Research skills +1
"It is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with."
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Medicine & Health
Paracelsus
1493-1541 · Switzerland (Holy Roman Empire)
Paracelsus was a Swiss physician, alchemist, and reformer of medicine who lived during the early Renaissance. His real name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Research skills Creative expression +1
"All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison."
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Philosophy
Peter Abelard
1079 - 1142 · France
Peter Abelard was a French philosopher, theologian, and teacher. He was one of the most influential and controversial intellectual figures of the 12th century. He…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Creative expression Research skills +1
"By doubting we come to inquiry; by inquiry we perceive truth."
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Religion
Rabia of Basra
c. 717 CE - c. 801 CE · Basra, Iraq (Abbasid Caliphate)
Rabia of Basra was an early Sufi mystic and saint. Sufism is the mystical tradition within Islam. It emphasises the inner experience of God rather…
Ethical thinking Emotional intelligence Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity +1
"O God, if I worship Thee for fear of hell, burn me in hell. If I worship Thee for hope…"
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Literature
Rumi
1207-1273 · Khorasan / Anatolia (Persian Sufi)
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273), known throughout the Islamic world as Mawlana (our master) and in the West by the short name Rumi, was a…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking +1
"Listen to this reed, how it complains, telling tales of separation."
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Language & Linguistics
Sībawayh
c. 760-796 · Persia / Iraq (Basra)
Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman, known as Sībawayh (c. 760-796), was a Persian-born Arab grammarian whose book Al-Kitāb is the first comprehensive description of the…
Scientific thinking Critical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"A noun is a word that refers to a thing; a verb is a word that indicates an action in…"
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Philosophy
Thomas Aquinas
1225-1274 · Kingdom of Sicily (Italy, Dominican / Catholic)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian whose synthesis of Christian theology with Aristotelian philosophy became the most influential intellectual achievement…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"Because in created things the existence differs from the essence, it follows that in them also there is a composition…"
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Philosophy
Wang Yangming
1472 - 1529 · Ming dynasty China
Wang Yangming was a Chinese philosopher, scholar, and military general. He is one of the most important Confucian thinkers of the second millennium CE. His…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Creative expression Emotional intelligence +1
"There is a sage in every person, but they do not believe in themselves and so they bury this sage."
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Philosophy
Zhu Xi
1130-1200 · China
Zhu Xi was a Chinese philosopher, teacher, and government official of the Southern Song dynasty. He was born on 18 October 1130 in Youxi, in…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"If we wish to extend our knowledge to the utmost, we must investigate the principles of all things we come…"
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