Pre-Socratics
Which Pre-Socratic believed everything came from water?
Thales
Who wrote about the Allegory of the Cave, where people mistake shadows for truth?
Plato
Who encouraged people to learn truth through observation and experiments (the scientific method)?
Francis Bacon
Who believed humans are naturally selfish and need a strong government to keep them safe?
Hobbes
Which philosopher believed that, sometimes in life, you need to take a leap of faith?
Kierkegaard
Which philosopher said the universe is always changing, like “stepping into the same river twice”?
Heraclitus
Which philosopher lived in a barrel and believed society’s rules are unnatural and silly?
Diogenes
Who said, “I think, therefore I am”?
Descartes
Who believed humans are naturally good but society corrupts them?
Which philosopher had a very pessimistic view, believing life is suffering and desire causes pain?
Schopenhauer
Which Chinese philosopher taught that people should live simply and follow the Way (the Tao)?
Lao Tzu
Which philosopher argued by using logical syllogisms?
Aristotle
Which philosopher believed that God is nature and everything is part of one substance?
Spinoza
Which philosopher argued that women deserve equal education because they are rational beings?
Wollstonecraft
Who taught that people should trust themselves and live according to their own inner nature?
Emerson
Which philosopher taught that social harmony comes from following proper roles and practicing respect?
Confucius
Which Stoic taught that you should focus only on what you can control?
Epictetus
Which philosopher argued we can’t know anything for certain — only what we experience through senses?
Hume
Which American thinker believed in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
Jefferson
Which philosopher practiced civil disobedience when he refused to help fund government corruption?
Thoreau
Which philosopher believed everything comes from one unchanging reality (“The One”)?
Parmenides
Which philosopher believed happiness comes from simple pleasures, good friends, and avoiding fear?
Epicurus
Who believed that physical objects don’t really exist and instead are only ideas in the mind?
Berkeley
Which Founding Father emphasized self-improvement, virtues, and becoming a better person?
Which philosopher said that man is a rope stretched between animal and Overman -- a rope over an abyss?
Nietzsche