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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Citizenship × Critical thinking ×

1913-2008 · Martinique, Caribbean

Aimé Césaire (1913-2008) was a poet, playwright, and political thinker from Martinique, an island in the Caribbean that was, and still is, a French territory.…

Cultural heritage and identity Critical literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking +1

"A civilisation that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilisation."

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1913-1960 · Algeria / France

Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a French-Algerian novelist, playwright, and philosopher. He was born in Mondovi in French colonial Algeria into a poor working-class family: his…

Ethical thinking Critical thinking Resilience Storytelling and narrative +1

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide."

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Antonio Gramsci

1891-1937 · Italy, Southern Europe

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, and political organiser. He was born in Sardinia, the island off the coast of Italy, into…

Civic media and democracy Critical literacy Citizenship Media literacy +1

"All men are intellectuals, but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals."

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1891-1956 · India, South Asia

B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer, and philosopher. His full name was Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. He was born into a Dalit…

Citizenship Ethical thinking Critical thinking Systems thinking +1

"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved."

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1924-1993 · England, United Kingdom

E.P. Thompson (1924-1993) was a British historian, socialist activist, and peace campaigner. His full name was Edward Palmer Thompson. He was born in Oxford into…

Research skills Critical thinking Citizenship Cultural heritage and identity +1

"I am seeking to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the obsolete hand-loom weaver, the utopian artisan and even…"

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Anthropology & Culture

Gloria Anzaldúa

1942-2004 · Texas, United States / Mexico border

Gloria Anzaldúa (1942-2004) was a Chicana cultural theorist, poet, and writer. She was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas into a family…

Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking Creative thinking Ethical thinking +1

"The US-Mexican border es una herida abierta where the Third World grates against the First and bleeds."

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1906-1975 · Germany / United States

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German-American political philosopher. She was born into a Jewish family in Hanover, Germany, and studied philosophy under Martin Heidegger and…

Citizenship Ethical thinking Civic media and democracy Critical thinking +1

"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good…"

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c. 484-425 BCE · Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (now Turkey)

Herodotus (c.484-425 BCE) was an ancient Greek writer, born in Halicarnassus, a city on the southwestern coast of what is now Turkey. He lived during…

Research skills Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Storytelling and narrative +1

"Herodotus of Halicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do not fade with time, and that great and…"

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1922-2010 · United States

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) was an American historian, playwright, and activist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents who worked in factories,…

Critical thinking Citizenship Research skills Critical literacy +1

"I thought it important to put back in the historical record the countless struggles of ordinary people who fought against…"

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1921-2002 · United States

John Rawls (1921-2002) was an American political philosopher, widely regarded as the most important political philosopher of the twentieth century. He was born in Baltimore,…

Ethical thinking Citizenship Critical thinking Systems thinking +1

"Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought."

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1939-2019 · Ghana, West Africa

Kwame Gyekye (1939-2019) was a Ghanaian philosopher. He was born in Kumasi, Ghana, and studied philosophy at the University of Ghana and Harvard University. He…

Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Citizenship Relationships and communication +1

"The communal life is not an optional extra for the human individual. It is the context in which the individual…"

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1909-1972 · Ghana, West Africa

Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) was the first president of independent Ghana and one of the most important political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. He…

Citizenship Systems thinking Civic media and democracy Financial literacy +1

"The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent."

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Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

1841-1935 · United States

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935) was an American jurist, legal philosopher, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was born in Boston,…

Critical thinking Citizenship Ethical thinking Research skills +1

"The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience."

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Simone de Beauvoir

1908-1986 · France, Western Europe

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a French philosopher, novelist, and feminist thinker. She was born in Paris and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, where she…

Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking Relationships and communication +1

"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."

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1946-1977 · South Africa

Steve Biko (1946-1977) was a South African activist and philosopher. He was born in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape, and grew up under…

Citizenship Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Self regulation +1

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."

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1868-1963 · United States

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and one of the most important intellectual figures of the twentieth century. His…

Critical thinking Citizenship Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1

"The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colour line."

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1942-1980 · Guyana, Caribbean / South America

Walter Rodney (1942-1980) was a Guyanese historian, political thinker, and activist. He was born in Georgetown, Guyana, then a British colony in South America, and…

Systems thinking Citizenship Civic media and democracy Financial literacy +1

"African development is possible only on the basis of a radical break with the international capitalist system, which has been…"

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