10 Most Famous Greek Philosophers

10 Most Famous Greek Philosophers

Greek philosophers were the first to systematically examine the big questions about life, the world, and everything. Greek philosophers have grappled with the most fundamental questions about the nature of reality, knowledge, ethics, and politics. These philosophers have helped us to understand the world around us and ourselves. The early Greek philosophers were primarily concerned with cosmology, ontology, and mathematics.

Some of the most famous and influential philosophers of all time were from the ancient Greek world, including Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. From Socrates’s focus on critical thinking to Plato’s theory of Forms to Aristotle’s contributions to logic and physics. Greek philosophers laid the foundation for Western thought, and their ideas continue to influence us today. Read on as we look into 10 of the most famous Greek Philosophers.

1. Socrates

Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. 

Socrates is known for proclaiming his total ignorance; he used to say that the only thing he was aware of was his ignorance, seeking to imply that the realization of our ignorance is the first step in philosophizing. Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and has continued to do so in the modern era. He was studied by medieval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture have made him a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.

2. Aristotle

After Lysippos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

Aristotle’s views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle’s influence on logic continued well into the 19th century.

3. Plato

Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period. In Athens, Plato founded the Academy, a philosophical school where he taught the philosophical doctrines that would later become known as Platonism. Plato was an innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy. He raised problems for what became all the major areas of both theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy. 

His most famous contribution is the theory of ideas, which has been interpreted as advancing a solution to what is now known as the problem of universals. Although their popularity has fluctuated, Plato’s works have consistently been read and studied. Through Neoplatonism, Plato also greatly influenced both Christian and Islamic philosophy. 

4. Heraclitus

John William Cook, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Heraclitus was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. The central ideas of Heraclitus’ philosophy are the unity of opposites and the concept of change. He also saw harmony and justice in strife. 

Heraclitus viewed the world as constantly in flux, always becoming but never being. He expressed this in sayings like panta rhei i.e. Everything flows and No man ever steps in the same river twice. This changing aspect of his philosophy is contrasted with that of the ancient philosopher Parmenides, who believed in being and in the static nature of reality.

5. Pythagoras

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek philosopher, polymath and the founder of Pythagoreanism. The teaching most securely identified with Pythagoras is metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, which holds that every soul is immortal and, upon death, enters into a new body. He may have also devised the doctrine of musica universalis, which holds that the planets move according to mathematical equations and thus resonate to produce an inaudible symphony of music. 

In antiquity, Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries, including the Pythagorean theorem, Pythagorean tuning, the five regular solids, the Theory of Proportions, the sphericity of the Earth, and the identity of the morning and evening stars as the planet Venus. It was said that he was the first man to call himself a philosopher. 

6. Democritus

Unidentified engraver, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Democritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher from Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an atomic theory of the universe. The theory of Democritus held that everything is composed of atoms, which are physically, but not geometrically, indivisible; that between atoms, there lies empty space; that atoms are indestructible, and have always been and always will be in motion; that there is an infinite number of atoms and of kinds of atoms, which differ in shape and size. Of the mass of atoms, Democritus said, “The more any indivisible exceeds, the heavier it is.” 

7. Epicurus

Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and sage who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy. Epicurus and his followers were known for eating simple meals and discussing a wide range of philosophical subjects. He openly allowed women and slaves to join the school as a matter of policy. Epicurus was an empiricist, meaning he believed that only the senses are a reliable source of knowledge about the world.

Epicurus asserted that philosophy’s purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain happy (eudaimonic), tranquil lives characterized by ataraxia (peace and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of pain). He advocated that people were best able to pursue philosophy by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that the root of all human neuroses is death denial and the tendency for human beings to assume that death will be horrific and painful, which he claimed causes unnecessary anxiety, selfish self-protective behaviours, and hypocrisy. According to Epicurus, death is the end of both the body and the soul and therefore should not be feared. Epicurus taught that although the gods exist, they have no involvement in human affairs.

8. Parmenides 

See page for author, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Parmenides was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. The single known work by Parmenides is a poem whose original title is unknown but which is often referred to as On Nature. Only fragments of it survive. In his poem, Parmenides prescribes two views of reality. 

The first, the Way of Aletheia or truth, describes how all reality is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless and uniform. The second view, the way of Doxa, or opinion, describes the world of appearances, in which one’s sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false and deceitful. In contemporary philosophy, Parmenides’ work has remained relevant in debates about the philosophy of time.

9. Anaxagoras 

Anaxagoras was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras introduced the concept of Nous Cosmic Mind as an ordering force. 

He also gave several novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including the notion of panspermia, that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, as well as attempting to explain rainbows and meteors.

10. Thales

Wilhelm Meyer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thales was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages, founding figures of Ancient Greece, and credited with the saying know thyself which was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

The first philosophers followed him in explaining all of nature as based on the existence of a single ultimate substance. Thales theorized that this single substance was water. Thales thought the Earth floated in water.  He is thus otherwise credited as the first to have engaged in mathematics, science, and deductive reasoning. Thales was said to have calculated the heights of the pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. In science, Thales was an astronomer who reportedly predicted the weather and a solar eclipse. He was also credited with discovering the position of the constellation Ursa Major as well as the timings of the solstices and equinoxes. Thales was also an engineer; credited with diverting the Halys River. 

These are just a few of the many famous Greek philosophers.  They developed new ideas about ethics, politics, metaphysics, and cosmology. Their ideas have shaped the way we think about the world today. Greek philosophy has had a profound influence on Western thought and culture, and its ideas continue to be studied and debated today.