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Locke (1632-1704) Influential Founder of Brtish empiricism. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding , Locke wrote that all ideas come to mind from experience and that none are innate. He also held that authority derives solely from the consent of the governed, a view that deeply influenced the American Revolution and the writing of the U.S. Constitution. His two Treatises on Government express his political thought.
Lucretius (c. 99-55 B.C.) Roman Epicurean philosopher and poet. In De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), Lucretius depicted the entire world, including the soul, as composed of atoms.
Machiavelli, Niccolo (1469-1527) Italian Renaissance statesman and political writer. In The Prince , one of the most influential political books of modern times, Machiavelli argues that any act of a ruler designed to gain and hold power is permissible. The term Machiavellian is used to refer to any political tactics that are cunning and power-oriented.
Maimonides (1135-1204) Spanish-born medieval Jewish philosopher and thinker. Maimonides tried to synthesize Aristotelian and Judaic thought. His works, such as Guide to the Perplexed , had enormous influence on Jewish and Christian thought.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180) Roman emperor from A.D. 161, and a proponent of the Stoic philosophy. His Meditations held that death is as natural as birth and that the world is rational and orderly. Although a great humanitarian, Marcus Aurelius persecuted the Christians of his time.
Marx, Karl (1818-83) German revolutionary thinker, social philosopher, and economist. His ideas, formulated with Engels, laid the foundation for nineteenth-century socialism and twentieth-century communism. Although Marx was initially influenced by Hegel, he soon rejected Hegel's idealism in favor of materialism. His Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital are among the most important writings of the last 200 years.
Mill, John Stuart (1806-73) English empiricist philosopher, logician, economist, and social reformer. His System of Logic described the basic rules for all scientific reasoning. As a student of Jeremy Bentham, he elaborated on utilitarian ethics; in On Liberty , he presented a plea for the sanctity of individual rights against the power of any government.
Montesquieu, Baron de (Charles-Louis de Secondat) (1689-1755) French political philosopher, influenced by Locke. In Spirit of the Laws , Montesquieu put forth the theory of separation of powers that strongly influenced the writing of the U.S. Constitution.
Moore, G. E. (George Edward) (1873-1958) British philosopher who emphasized the "common sense" view of the reality of material objects. In ethics, Moore held that goodness is a quality known directly by moral intuition and that it is a fallacy to try to define it in terms of anything else.
More, Sir Thomas (1478-1535) A leading Renaissance humanist and statesman, Lord Chancellor of England. More was beheaded for refusing to accept the king as head of the church. Influenced by Greek thinking, he believed in social reform and drew a picture of an ideal peaceful state in his Utopia .
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (1844-1900) German philosopher, philologist, and poet. As a moralist, he rejected Christian values and championed a "Superman" who would create a new, life-affirming, heroic ethic by his "will to power." His works include Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil .
Parmenides (b. c. 515 B.C.) The founder of Western metaphysics. This pre-Socratic thinker held that "being" is the basic substance and ultimate reality of which all things are composed and that motion, change, time, difference, and reality are illusions of the senses.
Pascal, Blaise (1623-62) French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and theologian. His posthumous "Pensees" ("Thoughts") argues that reason is by itself inadequate for man's spiritual needs and cannot bring man to God, who can be known only through mystic understanding.
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