Philosophy and Philosophers

1463-1494 Pico Della Mirandola, Italian humanist

1465-1536 Erasmus of Rotterdam, Humanist philosopher

1469-1527 Niccolo Machiavelli, Political philosopher

1533-1592 Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher, skeptic

1561-1626 Francis Bacon, English philosopher, scientist

1588-1679 Thomas Hobbes, Political philosopher

1596-1650 Rene Descartes, French Rationalist philosopher and author of Meditations on First Philosophy

1623-1662 Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher

1632-1677 Baruch de Spinoza, Rationalist philosopher in Amsterdam

1632-1704John Locke, British empiricist and philosopher

1638-1715 Nicholas Malebranchem, French philosopher

1646-1716 Gottfried Leibniz, German philosopher and mathematician

1672-1719 Joseph Addison, English essayist and poet

1685-1753 George Berkeley, Irish philosopher

1694-1778 Voltaire, French philosopher

1711-1776 David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian

1712-1778 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French writer and philosopher

1713-1784 Denis Diderot, French philosopher and editor of the Encyclopédie

1723-1790 Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher

1724-1804 Immanuel Kant, German philosopher

1748-1832 Jeremy Bentham, Utilitarian philosopher and social reformer

Political and Cultural Context

1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance artist, scientist, inventor

1471-1528 Albrecht Durer, German artist, leader of Northern Renaissance

1474-1543 Nicolas Copernicus, created Copernican system of astronomy.

c. 1450 Iroquois League makes peace among the five Iroquois Nations.

1481 Beginning of Spanish Inquisition, led by Ferdinand and Isabella and the Catholic Church.

1517 Martin Luther posted 95 Theses in Wittenberg, beginning the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

1519 Magellan left Europe on voyage to circumnavigate the globe.

1520-1566 Sulieman I, “the Magnificent,” was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and established great center of art, science, and literature.

1564-1642 Galileo Galilei, Astronomer and physicist

1600 Giordano Bruno, philosopher, astronomer, and supporter of Copernican theory was burned at the stake in Rome by the Inquisition.

1687 Sir Isaac Newton published Principia Mathematica.

1688 The “Glorious Revolution” began when English lords invited William of Orange to become King of England.

1705 Edmund Halley predicted the return of (Halley's) comet to occur in 1758, using Newton's principles.

1776-1783 American Revolution

1789 French Revolution