Famous Thinkers
Aristotle
Aristotle was one of the greatest thinkers in the field of philosophy and he was the first philosopher to write on systems, which he well comprehended and he could critic anything from pure judgment to literature, societal politics, and even science. He proposed that there are four basic “causes” of reality of existence: the effective cause, which is the initiator of the object; the final cause, which is the role for which an object exists; the structure of the object; and material cause, which is the composition of the object. His work was influenced by the urge to develop knowledge concerning hierarchy .He is one of the western philosophers who argued that in life ,there exists hierarchy, which he called “ladder of life” which comprises of eleven levels and he places human being on the top of the ladder.
Aristotle contributed to the ideology of classical education, where he influenced the Medieval Christians .The idea of hierarchy was later reflected in catholic community (Law, 2008). The other contribution of Aristotle to the society was the aspect of ethics. His principle of, ethics, was anchored on the conceptual of doing well in the society, and was opposed to the idea of being good. He believed that human being should prove his “goodness” by helping others in the society. The modern philosophers have greatly embraced the teaching of Aristotle and most of the arguments of modern philosophy are based on his teachings. Many critics have argued that the philosophical teachings by Aristotle was not all perfect and those using these teachings to argue should evaluate the thinking before using to develop their theories (Frost, 2002).
Plato
Plato was one of the great thinkers who lived from c.428 to c.348BC and is remembered as the founder of the first school of advanced education, the Academy of Athens. His philosophical thinking was influenced by Socrates who was his teacher, which is reflected, in almost all the western philosophies and the principle of existentialism. His philosophical work was mostly based in politics whereby he believed that, any leader in a nation or city should exhibit wisdom in their leadership, thus contributing to effective leadership.
He also argued that, the society can be free from evils, if people embraced philosophy as their way of thinking. Plato also contributed the idea of “The Forms” where he produced numerous works, and argued that the things of the material world change form with human being perception. He believed the Universe must have been created by something and the things on the Universe are not real than the Creator. The base of Plato understanding was purely existentialism. The Plato argument against democracy was biased because it was based on the incidence of death of his teacher, Socrates, who he argued that the root cause of his death was democracy. Many nations in the world believe that the ideal system of leadership is democratic form which gives people powers (Magee, 2001).
Paul of Taurus
Paul is one of thinkers who contributed to the Christianity whereby he wrote many epistles. He is believed that he assisted the spread of Christianity in the ancient churches. Paul differed with Peter, who was the disciple of Jesus, on the account of faith since Paul hold the principle that, faith in Jesus was the only thing needed in Christianity, but Peter argued that there was the need to tie faith with other Jewish customs. His argument was greatly influenced by the opposition environment from disciples like peter.
He developed the concept of grace which is now being used in all fields of Christianity as an ideas reflecting God’s moral law which is understood by all men provided they have attained the age of reason. Many philosophers and theologists have branded Paul, the founder of Christianity, not Jesus. Paul also opposed the notion that, anyone can be symbolically being a Jew by observing the Mosaic laws and being circumcised. The contribution of Paul which have been embraced by many is his letters because without them religion would have taken the dimension of Judaism. His thinking on the element of grace has been the basis of modern Christianity where the theologists use to minister to the world (Frost, 2002).
Rene Descartes
Descartes is among the greatest thinkers who lived between 1596 to 1650 where during his time contributed immensely to the modern philosophy and he is referred as the “the Father of Modern Philosophy.” His thinking was influenced by the ways of attaining knowledge. He was motivated by the element of foundationalism, which concerns with fundamental beliefs, and the prospect that reason is the only avenue of acquiring knowledge. Descartes contributed to the modern society through building concepts in the field of mathematics. He is remembered for developing the immortal concept of Cartesian coordinate system and algebra in analytical geometry. He was also one of the thinkers who discovered the concepts of reflection and refraction and built the concept of superscript notation (Law, 2008). He also pioneered the idea of dualism which is fundamentally the power of mind over the body. He stated that, strength is obtained by disregarding the flaws of the human physique and depending on the power in human mind. He believed on the aspect of deductive thinking as consistent process for probing, proving and disapproving something. He eventually believes that the acquisition of knowledge concerning the world is anchored on deduction and perception. His ideas have been greatly being used by the philosophers concerned with existentialism. His concepts in mathematics are being in institutions as basics in the field of mathematics (Frost, 2002).
Confucius
Confucius who is known in Chinese translation as Master Kong Qiu who lived between 551 to 479 BC is one on the great thinkers in Eastern history. His thinking was influenced by principles of ethics and politics, which were also explored by the Greeks. He is the leading proponent of idea of democracy. He believed and advocated that the best government in the world was the one ruled through “rites” and human being’s morality, and opposed the application of coercion and bribery in government. Confucius devised his own, autonomous design of Golden Rule which had been in place in Greece for almost a century. In his independent thinking he believed that the noble existence of human being and any governing is avoiding harming others, however he recognized that the greatest of all is the nobility of active aspiration to help others in the society. He subscribed for the idea of Emperor; however he further highlighted some limitation associated to the emperor’s power. He advocated that the emperor should be honest and his people must respect him, however the emperor must justify that respect. He further said that any leader who goes against the will of the people is an autocrat, and is more of thief than a leader (Law, 2008).
References
Frost, E. (2002). Basic teachings of the great philosophers: A survey of their basic ideas.
Cambridge: Doubleday.
Law, S. (2008). The great philosophers: The lives and ideas of history's greatest thinkers.
London, Quercus.
Magee, B. (2001). The Great Philosophers: An Introduction to Western Philosophy. New York,
NY: Oxford University Press.
Ted, H. (2001). The Philosophers: Introducing Great Western Thinkers. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
