Confucius

(Chinese philosopher, 551–479 B.C.) Confucius promoted the general observance of li (rites, norms of conduct established over time), while advocating a sensible attitude that recognised the importance of adapting tradition to context. Confucian ethics holds ren (goodness, humanity) to be the highest ideal.

Lao Tzu

(Chinese philosopher, c. 6th century B.C.). Also known as Lao Tzu, Loazi is thought to be a contemporary of Confucius and credited with writing the Daodejing (also Tao Te Ching).

Mao Zedong

(Chinese revolutionary, political leader and Marxist political theorist, 1893-1976). Mao Zedong was the main political leader of the Chinese Revolution, the first head of the People's Republic of China, and the principal theorist of "Mao Zedong Thought" or "Maoism", a contemporary development of revolutionary Marxist theory. Mao's writings deal with topics as broad as art and literature, organizational questions, and military strategy and tactics, in addition to philosophical matters. Mao drew heavily from Lenin's Philosophical Notebooks on Hegel in writing his main work on dialectical materialism, On Contradiction, and its companion text on Marxist epistemology, On Practice. Mao also wrote a considerable amount on issues of political philosophy, elaborating on and developing Marx and Lenin's theories of class dictatorship and democracy in works such as On New Democracy and On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People. Mao's "official" Selected Works run into five heavy volumes. While he remains a controversial figure, Mao is having a considerable impact on contemporary philosophy, notably through his influence on Louis Althusser, Alain Badiou, and others, including Slavoj Žižek, who recently edited a collection of his philosophical writings under the title On Practice and Contradiction (Verso, 2007).

Mencius

Mencius a.k.a. Meng-tzu, Meng K’o, (Chinese Confucian philosopher c. 379–272 B.C.). Most notable for his assertion of the innate goodness of human nature.

John Rogers Searle

(American philosopher, 1932–). Searle is a prominent and often controversial contributor to philosophy of language and philosophy of mind; he is also noted for the account of social reality he gives in The Construction of Social Reality (1997). Searle's books are written in a clear, conversational style, a factor that contributes to his wide readership among lay-people. His early work was in speech act theory, where he elaborated and contributed new elements to John Austin's work in the field. Searle's philosophy of mind comprises three major components: a critique of computationalism and strong AI (the "Chinese Room Argument"), a theory of intentionality, and a theory of consciousness. Searle believes consciousness to be defined by first-person subjective experience, and thus irreducible to third-person objective description (based on neural states, for example); to attempt such a description is to immediately jettison the subject under consideration (consciousness). Searle also supposes consciousness to be an emergent property of brain processes and a function of brain biology. Searle's books include Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind (1983), The Rediscovery of the Mind (1992), The Mystery of Consciousness (1997), Rationality in Action (2001), and Mind: A Brief Introduction (2004).

Xún Zǐ

Xún Zǐ or Hsün Tzu (荀子; Chinese Confucian philosopher, c.310–237 B.C.). Xún Zǐ is best known for his opposition to Mencius’s view of the inherent goodness of human nature. For Xún Zǐ, rules of proper behaviour function to counter the corrupt desires and motivations of individuals.

Zhu Xi

Zhu Xi or Chu Hsi (Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher, Song Dynasty, 1130–1200). Considered the greatest of the Neo-Confucian scholars, Zhu Xi’s thought initially represented a challenge to orthodox Neo-Confucianism. His commentaries on "The Four Books", however, would eventually form the basis for all civil service examinations conducted in China for the next 400 years, until that system was abolished in 1905.

Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi (莊子) or Chuang Tzu (Chinese Taoist philosopher, c. 4th century B.C., Waring States Period). Author of the seven "inner chapters" of the text Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi’s teaching that there is no neutral ground from which to adjudicate judgements between opposing positions makes his philosophy something of a precursor to relativism.

Edith Stein

(German philosopher, Carmelite nun, martyr, and saint of the Catholic Church, 1891–1942). Stein studied under two of the great minds of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler. In 1922 she converted to Christianity, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun. This failed to shield her from Nazi persecution, however, and she died in Auschwitz in 1942. She was canonized as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross by Pope John Paul II (who, interestingly, wrote his doctoral thesis on the phenomenological work of Max Scheler). Perhaps her major philosophical work is Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt to an Ascent to the Meaning of Being, which attempts a synthesis of phenomenology and the philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Martin Luther

(German theologian and leader of the Protestant reformation, 1483–1546). Martin Luther was an Augustinian friar from Saxony, schooled in philosophy and biblical languages. The texts that express Luther's dissatisfaction with Catholic doctrine are the 95 Theses, Appeal to the Nobility, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian Man, all of which prompted his excommunication by the Pope. Luther proclaimed justification by faith alone and the priesthood of all believers, unmediated by the Church. His translation of the Bible into German helped to shape the German language and had an influence on the English authors of the King James Bible.

Jacques Maritain

(French Catholic philosopher, 1882–1973). In a state of metaphysical despair over the spiritual vacuum at the heart of French intellectual life, dominated as it was at the time by scientism, the young Maritain entered a suicide pact with his fiancée. It was Henri Bergson's vitalistic philosophy and critique of positivism that injected sufficient meaning into the lives of the couple for them to abandon their contract before it matured. Maritain went on to become one of the central figures of Neo-Thomism. His innovative interpretation of Aquinas's philosophy formed a central plank in the defence of Catholic doctrine against modernist attackers. Maritain also wrote on aesthetics (e.g. Art and Scholasticism, 1920), epistemology, metaphysics and theology (Distinguish to Unite: or, The Degrees of Knowledge, 1932), and political philosophy (Man and the State, 1961). He was also instrumental in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Karl Rahner

(German theologian, 1904–1984). Rahner's theology influenced the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) and is now central for modern Catholicism. He is the author of Foundations of Christian Faith.

Max Scheler

(German phenomenologist, social philosopher, and sociologist of knowledge). Scheler was born in Munich, studied in Jena, and came into contact with phenomenology upon his return to Munich in 1907. He was acquainted with both Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, though he was not altogether uncritical of their work. Upon his conversion to Catholicism after World War I, he began phenomenological analyses of religious phenomena and feelings, and later turned his attention to anthropology and natural science. At the core of Scheler’s philosophy is his theory of the essential and objective, though non-Platonic, nature of values.

Julian of Norwich

(English Christian theologian and mystic, c. 1342–c. 1416). Considered one of the greatest English mystics and adored by the Catholic and Reformed churches alike, Julian wrote in-depth theoretical accounts of sixteen visions she experienced toward the end of a severe, almost fatal illness. The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1393) is believed to be the first book written by a woman in the English language. Julian's theology is discordantly optimistic for her time; her language references metaphors of domesticity and motherhood in describing a God who is universally loving and compassionate rather than punitive.

Peter Thomas Geach

(British philosopher, 1916–). Geach has made major contributions to philosophical logic, the theory of identity, philosophy of religion and history of philosophy. He is well known for his 1960 essay, "Ascriptivism", in which he refutes H. L. A. Hart's "ascriptivism" (the notion that to call an action voluntary is to express a commitment to hold the agent of the action responsible for it, rather than to describe the action as in some way caused by the agent), and for discrediting the notion of "distribution" in logic (Reference and Generality, 1968). Geach's Catholicism is central to his philosophy, and he is sometimes credited as the founder of Analytical Thomism.

Saint Bonaventure of Bagnoregio

(San Bonaventura) (Italian theologian, 1221–1274). Medieval scholastic theologian and philosopher, a contemporary of Thomas Aquinas, and a Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He was canonised by the Catholic Church and made a doctor of the church in 1588. Bonaventure wrote extensively on the connection between philosophy and theology, developing the view that "all divisions of knowledge are handmaids of theology." His major writings include a four-volume Commentary on the Sentences of Lombard, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, De Reductione Artium ad Theologiam ("On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology"), and Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum ("The Mind's Journey Unto God").

G. E. M. Anscombe

(English philosopher, 1919–2001). Anscombe studied under Ludwig Wittgenstein; she became his close friend and a leading authority on his work. She is the author of Intention and "An Introduction to Wittgenstein’s Tractatus". In her essay "Modern Moral Philosophy", Anscombe coined the term "consequentialism" to distinguish modern English moral philosophy from earlier forms of utilitarianism. She was also a political activist and a devout Catholic.

Acharya Nāgārjuna

(Indian Mahayana Buddhist philosopher, fl. second century A.D.). Founder of the Madhyamaka View. Author of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way).

Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha

(Spiritual teacher and historical founder of Buddhism, c. 563–483 B.C.). Siddhārtha Gautama taught that desire or craving, born of ignorance, is the cause of suffering. Desire and suffering may be overcome by following the Eightfold Path (rightness of speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration, thought, and intentions), and accepting the following claims: all existence is unsatisfactory; all existence is impermanent; and there is no permanent self.

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma or Da Mo (Buddhist monk credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to China, fl. A.D. 526/527). Displeased with his lack of progress in Southern China, Bodhidharma is said to have spent the last nine years of his life seated and silent, his gaze fixed upon a wall inside a cave near the Shaolin Monastery.