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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32 thinkers
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Literature
Aimé Césaire
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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Literature
Albert Camus
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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Economics
Amartya Sen
1933-present · India / United Kingdom
Amartya Sen (born 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. He was born in West Bengal, India, and grew up during a period of great…
Financial literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking Systems thinking +1
"Development can be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy."
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Philosophy
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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Law
B.R. Ambedkar
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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Education
Confucius
551-479 BCE · China, East Asia
Confucius (551-479 BCE) was a Chinese thinker, teacher, and social philosopher. His Chinese name was Kong Qiu, and he is also known as Kongzi, meaning…
Ethical thinking Relationships and communication Leadership Citizenship +1
"Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application? Is it not delightful to have friends coming…"
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History
E.P. Thompson
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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Politics
Elinor Ostrom
1933-2012 · United States
Elinor Ostrom (1933-2012) was an American political economist. She was born in Los Angeles and grew up during the Great Depression, a period of severe…
Environmental thinking Citizenship Systems thinking Financial literacy +1
"A lot of models in economics assume that human beings are fundamentally selfish. But the evidence shows that many people…"
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Medicine & Health
Florence Nightingale
1820-1910 · England, United Kingdom
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was a British nurse, statistician, and public health reformer. She was born into a wealthy English family and received an unusually thorough…
Health literacy Research skills Scientific thinking Numeracy and mathematical thinking +1
"The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm."
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Literature
Frederick Douglass
c. 1818-1895 · United States
Frederick Douglass (c.1818-1895) was an American abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland, the son of an enslaved…
Citizenship Critical literacy Ethical thinking Storytelling and narrative +1
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
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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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Politics
Hannah Arendt
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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Literature
Herodotus
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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History
Howard Zinn
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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Literature
James Baldwin
1924-1987 · United States
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, and activist. He was born in Harlem, New York, the eldest of nine children. His mother's…
Critical literacy Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Storytelling and narrative +1
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
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Politics
John Rawls
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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Philosophy
Kwame Gyekye
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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Politics
Kwame Nkrumah
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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Philosophy
María Lugones
1944-2020 · Argentina / United States
María Lugones (1944-2020) was an Argentine-American philosopher. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to the United States as a young woman, where…
Cultural heritage and identity Relationships and communication Ethical thinking Citizenship +1
"I am a being in multiple worlds and I travel among them, feeling at ease in some of them, not…"
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Philosophy
Mogobe Ramose
1944-present · South Africa, Southern Africa
Mogobe Ramose (born 1944) is a South African philosopher. He was born in the North West Province of South Africa and grew up under the…
Ethical thinking Citizenship Cultural heritage and identity Leadership +1
"Ubuntu is the basis of African philosophy. The Nguni Bantu expression umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu means that to be human is…"
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Literature
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
1938-present · Kenya, East Africa
Ngugi wa Thiong'o (born 1938) is a Kenyan writer, novelist, and thinker. He grew up during British colonial rule in Kenya and lived through the…
Cultural heritage and identity Storytelling and narrative Critical literacy Media literacy +1
"Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come…"
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Law
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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Medicine & Health
Paul Farmer
1959-2022 · United States / Haiti / Rwanda
Paul Farmer (1959-2022) was an American physician, anthropologist, and global health activist. He was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and grew up in modest and…
Health literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking Systems thinking +1
"The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world."
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Literature
Rabindranath Tagore
1861-1941 · Bengal, India / South Asia
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was an Indian poet, philosopher, and educator from Bengal, a region now divided between India and Bangladesh. He was born into a…
Learning how to learn Creativity Citizenship Ethical thinking +1
"The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all…"
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