THE 30 MOST IMPORTANT ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ANCIENT AGE - PHILOSOPHY - 2025

The main philosophers of the Ancient Age such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates or Pythagoras centered the foundations of today's philosophical thought. Cynicism and Stoicism are the main philosophical currents and concepts that marked this era and influenced the world with knowledge that still exists today.

The Ancient Age in humanity was the beginning of life in cities and with it the political, social and religious order. The philosophers tried to analyze the Universe and discover principles that ordered the main social issues such as freedom, love, science, among other topics.

There was a historical moment where humanity went from living dispersed or in small groups to forming the first civilizations, with the appearance of cities and an urban way of life.

That historical moment, which forever changed the social configuration of the planet, is known as the Ancient Age, which begins in 4,000 BC and culminates with the rise of the Roman Empire in 476.

There are two central changes that characterize this historical stage: the appearance of writing and sedentary lifestyle, thanks to the technological development of agriculture.

The Old Age was the beginning of urban life and with it the emergence of political power, the formation of states, social development and organized religions.

Considered as a desire for knowledge, ancient philosophy based its analysis on the origin of the Universe (Cosmogony), the ordering principles and problems of the Cosmos (Cosmology) and the origin of nature (Physics), but also on love, freedom, mathematics, geometry, astronomy and theology.

You may also be interested in knowing the most important philosophers of the Renaissance.

The most important philosophers of the Ancient Age

Thales of Miletus (625 BC - 547 BC, Greece)

Such could be considered as the initiator of the School of Miletus, one of the first philosophical currents of the Ancient Age.

Mathematician, geometrist, physicist and legislator, as well as a philosopher, his main contributions were the development of scientific speculation, deductive thinking and Greek philosophy.

Two geometric teaching theorems in all schools in the world are named after him. But fundamentally Thales is the first Western philosopher that is recorded in his attempt to rationally explain some planetary phenomena.

Anaximander of Miletus (610 BC - 547 BC, Greece)

Together with his mentor Thales, Anaximander was one of the initiators of the School of Miletus and in addition to being a philosopher he was a geographer, a discipline with which he obtained great recognition by being the first to say that the Earth was cylindrical and configure one of the first maps.

Its main ideas are associated with the principle of all things and with the unlimited. In addition, he was one of the first philosophers to talk about the evolution of species, considering that water was the origin of everything.

Anaximenes of Miletus (590 BC - 524 BC, Greece)

Disciple of Thales and companion of Anaximander, Anaximenes is the third link in the School of Miletus. His contribution focuses on the conception of air as a central element of the origin of everything, based on a quantitative method of observation on human respiration.

Parmenides of Elea (530 BC - 470 BC, Italy)

"Nothing in the world can contradict what is necessary from the point of view of thought", that could say one of the premises of his only poem in which he analyzes being and being. With these concepts Parmenides began the Eleatic school.

Zeno of Elea (495 BC - 430 BC, Italy)

Disciple and follower of the thought of Parmenides, his thought changed after an encounter with Socrates. He died wanting to free his homeland from Nearco.

His main contributions were paradoxical thinking, and the concepts of mobility (with the example of Achilles and the tortoise) and plurality.

Meliso of Samos (471 BC - 431 BC, Greece)

Defender of the thesis of the unity of the existent, he was the author of the precept that in order to become something one must have an origin, which is why he considers that the void did not exist, precisely because it did not become.

In addition, he was one of the initiators of the theory that the senses can only give opinions, which does not allow us to understand the truth of things.

Empedocles of Agrigento (495 BC - 435 BC, Greece)

The notion of the four elements (water, air, earth and fire) is the evolution of Empedocles' ideas about the four roots, united by love and separated by hatred.

These roots constitute man and are subject to two forces: truth and corruption. Due to his originality and the preservation of his writings, Empedocles was one of the most controversial philosophers on the Ancient Age.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC, Greece)

A disciple of Plato, Aristotle was one of the three great teachers of Western philosophy and owes his recognition to his methodological rigor and a vast field of analysis and influences.

It could be said that he is the shaper of European theological thought, serving as an organizer of society. Empiricist, metaphysical and critical, he is the initiator of logic, for his theories on syllogisms, and ethics.

Plato (427 BC - 347 BC, Greece)

Another of the great teachers, Plato is the link between Socrates (his teacher) and Aristotle (his disciple). He was the founder of the Academy, the great philosophical institution of antiquity. Plato is one of the most important figures in modern philosophical thought.

Unlike his contemporaries, he did not write in the form of a poem but rather in a dialogue format. His work is 22 works, which are preserved until today.

His philosophy could be divided into two analyzes: knowledge, with its studies on the nature of knowledge; and morality, to which he attributed a fundamental role in human life and happiness.

Socrates (470 BC - 399 BC, Greece)

Could he be the great master of universal philosophy? The answer is a discussion that will last forever, in fact philosophical thought is divided into pre-Socratic and post-Socratic.

Socrates is one of the great teachers and he is the one who started a whole way of thinking that Plato and Aristotle continued in the Ancient Age.

He was sentenced to death for despising the gods and died of hemlock poisoning. He did not leave any written work so his knowledge can be inferred from the story of his followers.

The inductive argument, the thought about morality and the general definition, are his great contributions. His main method was dialogue with any human being in public places.

Pythagoras (569 BC - 475 BC, Greece)

Considered the first mathematician in history, Pythagoras founded an entire school of thought (religiously oriented) that bears his name and has influenced philosophers to this day.

His concepts were central to the development of mathematics, rational philosophy and music, where his ideas on harmonization still remain valid.

But it also influenced worldview and astronomy. It will always be remembered for the Pythagorean Theorem, which states: "In every right triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs."

Leucippus of Miletus (no data, Greece)

Leucippus of Miletus. Image source: Wikimedia.org.

The figure of Leucippus is the center of countless discussions, especially due to the lack of reliable data on his life, which casts doubt on his existence and is named as an invention of Democritus.

But in any case, he is considered the founder of atomism, a theory that maintains that reality is made up of infinite, indefinable and varied particles.

Democritus (460 BC - 370 BC, Greece)

Known as "the laughing philosopher", Democritus was defined with an extravagant character, which is attributed to his study with magicians. He denied the existence of God and believed in the self-creation of matter.

He was noted for his contributions to geometry and astronomy, in addition to his collaboration with the birth of atomism.

Zeno of Citius (333 BC - 264 BC, Cyprus)

Zenón de Citio was the initiator of Stoicism, a philosophical current that broke out with his theory that man can achieve freedom and tranquility by rejecting material comforts.

Hypasus of Metaponto (500 BC - no data, Greece)

One of the Pythagorean philosophers, the story of Hippasus is a tragedy. He was thrown off the ship in which he was crossing the Mediterranean with his companions for contradicting the theory of natural numbers.

His proof that the diagonal of a side square was an irrational number was also his death sentence.

Euclid of Megara (435 BC - 365 BC, Greece)

He was also a disciple of Socrates and Eleastics, he was the founder of the Megaric School, centered on the idea of ​​God as the supreme being.

His main contributions were on dialectics, the manner of reigning and deceptive arguments.

Protagoras of Abdera (485 BC - 411 BC, Greece)

Traveler and expert in rhetoric, Protagoras is one of the sophists, a doctrine that was based on the teaching of wisdom.

This philosopher is considered the first to receive gifts for imparting knowledge. Its central premise was: "Man is the measure of all things."

Aristogenes of Tarentum (354 BC - 300 BC, Greece)

In addition to being a philosopher and one of the founders of the Peripatetic School, he stood out as a musician, a role in which healing properties are granted.

Confronted with Theophrastus, he was a faithful follower of Aristotle's ideas and based his thinking on an empirical method. His main contributions were in music theory.

Theophrastus (371 BC - 287 BC, Greek)

His name was Tirtamo but he is known by his nickname, he was appointed as director of the Lyceum after Aristotle's death, which earned him the anger of Aristógenes.

He was noted for his scientific dissemination, his passion for botany and his explanation of character and moral types. It was also part of the Peripatetic School.

Straton of Lámpsaco (340 BC - 268 BC, Greece)

A member of the peripatetic school, he succeeded Theophrastus at the Lyceum and stood out for his particular ingenuity, which led him to demonstrate that air was made up of material particles, one of the most important advances of his time.

Eudemo of Rhodes (370 BC - 300 BC, Greece)

He was one of the great students of Aristotle and the first scientific historian in history. He was a member of the peripatetic school and his most outstanding contribution to philosophy was the systematization of the ideas of his teacher.

Epicurus of Samos (341 BC - 270 BC, Greece)

A great student of rational hedonism and atomism, this philosopher was the creator of his own school that influenced a whole generation of later thinkers.

His ideas on the pursuit of pleasure, motivated by prudence, and chance, highlighted him. He left a huge legacy of works, which could be divided into three stages: Gnoseology (distinction of what is true and false), the study of nature through physics, and Ethics.

Polemon (no data - 315 BC, Greece)

Owner of a severe and aggressive character, his great contribution was the influence on a group of disciples who took another philosophical approach and gave life to the school of Stoicism.

"The object of philosophy should be to exercise man in things and acts, not in dialectical speculations," was one of his famous phrases.

Antisthenes (444 BC - 365 BC, Greece)

This philosopher was a pupil of Socrates and earned his place among the geniuses of Old Age by being the founder of the Cynical school, which based his experience on observing the behavior of dogs. It rejected science, norms and conventions.

Diogenes of Sinope (412 BC - 323 BC, Greek)

The other genius of the cynical school, highlighted the virtues of dogs, which is why the rhetorical figure of Diogenes and the dogs emerges. He despised social uses, worldly pleasures and defined love as the business of the idle.

Aristippus (435 BC - 350 BC, Greece)

Another disciple of Socrates, was the founder of the Cyrenaica School, known as Hedonism, which stood out for associating pleasure with happiness, and this as the purpose of life, combined with spiritual freedom.

Theodore, the Atheist (340 BC - 250 BC, Greece)

Philosopher of the Cyrenaica School, he affirmed that the whole world was his homeland as a way of opposing nationalisms, he stood out for his atheism and the denial of the existence of Greek gods.

Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC, Sakia, today India)

Siddharta Gautama, better known as Buddha, whose meaning is "the enlightened one", was an oriental sage who gave rise to Buddhist thought, philosophy and religion, the fourth most important in the world.

Unlike Western thought, Buddhism is not vertically organized and is based on three precepts: insubstantiality, impermanence, and suffering.

The interest of this philosophy is based on the renunciation of material luxuries and the search for the spiritual meaning of existence, based mainly on meditation. The high point was Nirvana.

Plotinus (204 - 270, Egypt)

Follower and continuator of the ideas of Plato, Plotinus was the creator of the school called Platonism. His concept of the One, as the source of the indivisible creation of the whole, was what later led him to formulate the theory of the immortality of the soul.

Porfirio (232 - 304, Greece)

A disciple of Plotinus and a great popularizer of his works, he enjoyed the recognition and affection of his contemporaries for his metaphysical speculation.

It is considered a nexus between two evolutionary stages of Platonic thought and its originality, intellectual courage and its importance in Christian philosophy are highlighted.