Person
|
Dates
|
Nationality
|
Notes
|
|
Thomas Abbt
|
1738?1766
|
German
|
Author of "Vom Tode fur das Vaterland" (On dying for one's nation).
|
|
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
|
1717?1783
|
French
|
Mathematician and physicist, one of the editors of the Encyclopedie.
[1]
|
|
Francis Bacon
|
1561?1626
|
English
|
Philosopher who started the revolution in empirical thought that characterized much of the Enlightenment.
[2]
|
|
Pierre Bayle
|
1647?1706
|
French
|
Author of the widely-circulated and influential work in French, not Latin,
Dictionnaire historique et critique
, and "Nouvelles de la republique des lettres"; following
Spinoza
and others he was an advocate tolerance between the different religious beliefs.
|
|
James Beattie
|
1735?1803
|
Scottish
|
Poet, moralist, and philosopher.
|
|
Cesare Beccaria
|
1738?1794
|
Italian
|
Criminal law reformer, best known for his treatise
On Crimes and Punishments
(1764).
|
|
Balthasar Bekker
|
1634?1698
|
Dutch
|
Dutch Reformed theologian and a key figure in the early Enlightenment. In his book
De Philosophia Cartesiana
(1668) Bekker argued that theology and philosophy each had their separate terrains and that Nature can no more be explained from Scripture than can theological truth be deduced from Nature. Author of
The World Bewitched
in Dutch, not Latin (1692-93).
[3]
|
|
George Berkeley
|
1685?1753
|
Irish
|
Philosopher and mathematician famous for developing the theory of subjective idealism.
[4]
|
|
Justus Henning Boehmer
|
1674?1749
|
German
|
Ecclesiastical jurist, one of the first reformers of the church law and the civil law which was the basis for further reforms and maintained until the 20th century.
|
|
Ruđer Josip Bo?kovi?
(Roger Joseph Boscovich)
|
1711?1787
|
Ragusan
|
A physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the Republic of Ragusa (today
Dubrovnik, Croatia
), who studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works. He produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon.
|
|
James Boswell
|
1740?1795
|
Scottish
|
Biographer of Samuel Johnson, helped established the norms for writing biography in general.
|
|
G.L. Buffon
|
1707?1788
|
French
|
Biologist, author of
L'Histoire Naturelle
considered Natural Selection and the similarities between humans and apes.
|
|
Edmund Burke
|
1729?1797
|
Irish
|
Parliamentarian and political philosopher, best known for pragmatism, considered important to both Enlightenment and conservative thinking.
|
|
Joseph Butler
|
1692?1752
|
English
|
Bishop, theologian,
Christian apologist
, and philosopher. He also played an important, though under appreciated, role in the development of eighteenth-century economic discourse.
|
|
George Campbell
|
1719-1796
|
Scottish
|
A figure of the
Scottish Enlightenment
, known as a philosopher, minister, and professor of divinity. Campbell was primarily interested in
rhetoric
and
faculty psychology
.
|
|
Dimitrie Cantemir
|
1673?1723
|
Moldavian(Romanian)
|
Philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer.
|
|
Emilie du Chatelet
|
1706?1749
|
French
|
Mathematician, physicist, and author. Translated Newton's Principia with commentary.
|
|
Anders Chydenius
|
1729?1803
|
Finnish-Swedish
|
Priest and an ecclesiastical member of the Riksdag, contemporary known as the leading classical liberal of Nordic history.
|
|
Francisco Javier Clavijero
|
1731?1787
|
Mexican
|
Historian, best known for his
Antique History of Mexico
.
|
|
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac
|
1714?1780
|
French
|
Philosopher.
|
|
Marquis de Condorcet
|
1743?1794
|
French
|
Philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist who devised the concept of a Condorcet method.
|
|
Anne Conway
|
1631-1679
|
English
|
English rationalist philosopher, influenced
Gottfried Leibniz
, considered England most important woman philosopher.
[5]
[6]
Author of
The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy
, published in Latin 1690, in English 1692.
|
|
Mihaly Csokonai Vitez
|
1773-1805
|
Hungarian
|
Hungarian poet, main person in the Hungarian literary revival of the Enlightenment.
|
|
Ekaterina Dashkova
|
1743?1810
|
Russian
|
Director of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences (known now as the Russian Academy of Sciences).
|
|
Denis Diderot
|
1713?1784
|
French
|
Founder of the Encyclopedie, speculated on free will and attachment to material objects, art critic, contributed to the theory of literature.
|
|
Leonhard Euler
|
1707?1783
|
Swiss
|
Mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer.
|
|
Benito Jeronimo Feijoo y Montenegro
|
1676?1764
|
Spanish
|
The most prominent promoter of the critical empiricist attitude at the dawn of the Spanish Enlightenment. See also the Spanish
Martin Sarmiento
(1695?1772)
|
|
Adam Ferguson
|
1723-1816
|
Scottish
|
Philosopher and historian.
|
|
Gaetano Filangieri
|
1753?1788
|
Italian
|
Philosopher and jurist.
|
|
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
|
1657?1757
|
French
|
Author.
|
|
Denis Fonvizin
|
1744?1792
|
Russian
|
Writer and playwright.
|
|
Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia
|
1766?1840
|
Paraguayan
|
First president of Paraguay. Introduced radical political ideas never-before seen in South America to Paraguay, making his country prosperous and more secure than any other in South-America.
|
|
Benjamin Franklin
|
1706?1790
|
American
|
Statesman, scientist, political philosopher, author. As a philosopher known for his writings on nationality, economic matters, aphorisms published in
Poor Richard's Almanack
and polemics in favor of American Independence. Involved with writing the
United States Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution of 1787.
|
|
Ferdinando Galiani
|
1728-1787
|
Italian
|
Economist.
|
|
Luigi Galvani
|
1737?1798
|
Italian
|
Physician, physicist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the studies of
Bioelectricity
.
[7]
|
|
Antonio Genovesi
|
1712?1769
|
Italian
|
Writer on philosophy and political economy.
|
|
Edward Gibbon
|
1737?1794
|
English
|
Historian best known for his
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
.
|
|
Johann Wolfgang Goethe
|
1749?1832
|
German
|
Closely identified with Enlightenment values, progressing from
Sturm und Drang
("Storm and Stress"); leader in
Weimar Classicism
.
|
|
Olympe de Gouges
|
1748?1793
|
French
|
Playwright and activist who championed feminist politics, author of
Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
. She was beheaded during the
French Revolution
.
|
|
Hugo Grotius
|
1583?1645
|
Dutch
|
Philosopher of law and jurist who laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law. Wrote
De jure belli ac pacis
.
|
|
Alexander Hamilton
|
1755?1804
|
American
|
Economist, political theorist and politician. A major protagonist for the Constitution of the United States, and the single greatest contributor to
The Federalist
Papers
, advocating for the constitution's ratification through detailed examinations of its construction, philosophical and moral basis, and intent.
|
|
Joseph Haydn
|
1732?1809
|
Austrian
|
A leading composer of the era; revolutionized i.a. the symphonic form.
|
|
Claude Adrien Helvetius
|
1715?1771
|
French
|
Philosopher and writer. Famous for
De l'esprit
(On Mind).
|
|
Johann Gottfried Herder
|
1744?1803
|
German
|
Theologian and linguist. Proposed that language determines thought, introduced concepts of ethnic study and nationalism, influential on later Romantic thinkers. Early supporter of democracy and republican self-rule.
|
|
Thomas Hobbes
|
1588?1679
|
English
|
Philosopher who wrote
Leviathan
, a key text in political philosophy. While Hobbes justifies absolute monarchy, this work is the first to posit that the temporal power of a monarch comes about, not because God has ordained that he be monarch, but because his subjects have freely yielded their own power and freedom to him ? in other words, Hobbes replaces the
divine right of kings
with an early formulation of the
social contract
. Hobbes' work was condemned by reformers for its defense of absolutism, and by traditionalists for its claim that the power of government derives from the power of its subjects rather than the will of God.
|
|
Baron d'Holbach
|
1723?1789
|
French
|
Author, Encyclopedist and Europe's first outspoken atheist. Roused much controversy over his criticism of religion as a whole in his work
The System of Nature
.
|
|
Ludvig Holberg
|
1684?1754
|
Norwegian
|
Writer, essayist, historian and playwright.
|
|
Henry Home, Lord Kames
|
1696?1782
|
Scottish
|
Lawyer and philosopher. Patron of Adam Smith and David Hume. See
Scottish Enlightenment
.
|
|
Robert Hooke
|
1635?1703
|
English
|
Probably the leading experimenter of his age, Curator of Experiments for the Royal Society. Performed the work which quantified such concepts as
Boyle's Law
and the inverse-square nature of gravitation, father of the science of microscopy.
|
|
Wilhelm von Humboldt
|
1767?1835
|
German
|
Linguist, diplomat, founder of the modern educational system, philosopher.
|
|
David Hume
|
1711?1776
|
Scottish
|
Philosopher, historian and essayist. Best known for his empiricism and
rational skepticism
, advanced doctrines of naturalism and material causes. Influenced Kant and Adam Smith.
[8]
|
|
Francis Hutcheson
|
1694?1746
|
Scottish
|
Philosopher.
|
|
Christiaan Huygens
|
1629?1695
|
Dutch
|
Physicist and mathematician who made groundbreaking contributions in optics and mechanics and is responsible for the mathematization of physics. Author of
Horologium Oscillatorium
and
Treatise on Light
.
|
|
Thomas Jefferson
|
1743?1826
|
American
|
Statesman, political philosopher, educator. As a philosopher best known for the
United States Declaration of Independence
(1776), especially "
All men are created equal
", and his support of democracy in theory and practice. A polymath, he promoted higher education as a way to uplift the entire nation .
|
|
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
|
1744?1811
|
Spanish
|
Main figure of the Spanish Enlightenment. Preeminent statesman.
|
|
Immanuel Kant
|
1724?1804
|
German
|
Philosopher and physicist. Established critical philosophy on a systematic basis, proposed a material theory for the origin of the solar system, wrote on ethics and morals. Prescribed a politics of Enlightenment in
What is Enlightenment?
(1784). Influenced by
Hume
and
Rousseau
. Important figure in German Idealism, and important to the work of
Fichte
and
Hegel
.
|
|
Vasyl Karazin
|
1773?1842
|
Russian and Ukrainian
|
Enlightenment figure, intellectual, inventor, founder of The Ministry of National Education in Russian Empire and scientific publisher in Ukraine. Founder of Kharkiv University, which now bears his name. Also known for opposing to what he saw as colonial exploitation of Ukraine by the Russian Empire, even though he himself was ethnically Serbian.
|
|
Adriaan Koerbagh
|
1633?1669
|
Dutch
|
A follower of
Spinoza
Koerbagh was among the most radical figures of the Age of Enlightenment, rejecting and reviling the religious authorities and state as unreliable institutions and exposing theologians' and lawyers' language as vague and opaque tools to blind the people in order to maintain their own power. He wrote
Een Bloemhof
in 1668 in Dutch rather than Latin, which brought him to the immediate attention of authorities, who suppressed his work. He was arrested, tried, and imprisoned, where he rapidly died. His imprisonment and death was a cautionary tale for radical philosophers, including Spinoza, who subsequently published only anonymously.
[9]
|
|
Hugo Kołł?taj
|
1750?1812
|
Polish
|
Active in the Commission for National Education and the Society for Elementary Textbooks, and reformed the Krakow Academy, of which he was rector in 1783?86. Co-authored the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Constitution of May 3, 1791, and founded the Assembly of Friends of the Government Constitution to assist in the document's implementation.
|
|
Adamantios Korais
|
1748?1833
|
Greek
|
Leading philosopher and scholar of the
Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment
who exerted enormous influence on the
Greek language
,
culture
and
Greece's legal system
.
|
|
Ignacy Krasicki
|
1735?1801
|
Polish
|
Leading poet of the Polish Enlightenment.
|
|
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
|
1736?1813
|
Italian-French
|
Major mathematician, famous for his contributions to analysis, number theory, and mechanics.
|
|
Antoine Lavoisier
|
1743?1794
|
French
|
Founder of modern chemistry; executed in the French Revolution for his politics
|
|
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
|
1632?1723
|
Dutch
|
The father of microbiology and known for his pioneering work in microscopy and for his contributions toward the establishment of microbiology as a scientific discipline. Van Leeuwenhoek was the first to discover living cells, bacteria, spermatozoa and red blood cells.
|
|
Gottfried Leibniz
|
1646?1716
|
German
|
Polymath-philosopher, mathematician, diplomat, jurist, historian; rival of Newton.
|
|
Giacomo Leopardi
|
1798?1837
|
Italian
|
Poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist.
|
|
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
|
1729?1781
|
German
|
Dramatist, critic, political philosopher. Created theatre in the German language. Friend of
Moses Mendelssohn
, whose work he promoted.
|
|
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
|
1742?1799
|
German
|
Physicist, satirist, and aphorist.
|
|
Carl von Linne
(Carl Linnaeus)
|
1707?1778
|
Swedish
|
Botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. Known as the father of modern taxonomy.
|
|
John Locke
|
1632?1704
|
English
|
Philosopher. Important empiricist who expanded and extended the work of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. Seminal thinker in the realm of the relationship between the state and the individual, the contractual basis of the state and the rule of law. Argued for personal liberty emphasizing the rights of property.
|
|
Mikhail Lomonosov
|
1711?1765
|
Russian
|
Polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science.
|
|
Gabriel Bonnot de Mably
|
1709-1785
|
French
|
Philosopher and historian.
|
|
James Madison
|
1751?1836
|
American
|
Statesman and political philosopher. Played a key role in the writing of the
United States Constitution
and providing a theoretical justification for it in his contributions to
The Federalist
Papers
; author of the American Bill of Rights.
|
|
Sylvain Marechal
|
1750?1803
|
French
|
Essayist, poet, and philosopher.
|
|
George Mason
|
1725?1792
|
American
|
Statesman, authored the
Virginia Declaration of Rights
; along with Madison called the "Father of the
United States Bill of Rights
".
|
|
Moses Mendelssohn
|
1729?1786
|
Jewish German
|
Philosopher of
Jewish Enlightenment
in Prussia
(Haskalah)
, honoured by his friend
Lessing
in his drama as
Nathan the Wise
. Mendelssohn took from
Spinoza
's
Theological-Political Treatise
(1670) that Judaism is not a revealed religion but a belief based on law, and that religious toleration and liberty of conscience are essential goals.
[10]
[11]
|
|
Jean Meslier
|
1664?1729
|
French
|
Roman Catholic priest, philosopher and first atheist writer since ancient times. Author of
Testament
, a book length essay, which supplied arguments and rhetoric used by other enlightenment authors such as
Denis Diderot
,
Baron d'Holbach
and
Voltaire
.
|
|
La Mettrie
|
1709?1751
|
French
|
Physician and early
French materialist
philosopher. Best known as author of
L'homme machine
(Man a Machine).
|
|
John Millar
|
1735?1801
|
Scottish
|
Philosopher and historian.
|
|
Teodor Jankovi?-Mirijevski
|
1741?1814
|
Serbian and Russian
|
Educational reformer, academic, scholar and pedagogical writer
|
|
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
|
1714?1799
|
Scottish
|
Philosopher, jurist, pre-evolutionary thinker and contributor to linguistic evolution. See
Scottish Enlightenment
|
|
Josef Vratislav Monse
|
1733?1793
|
Czech
|
Professor of Law at
University of Olomouc
, leading figure of Enlightenment in the
Habsburg monarchy
|
|
Montesquieu
|
1689?1755
|
French
|
Political thinker. Famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions all over the world. Political scientist, Donald Lutz, found that Montesquieu was the most frequently quoted authority on government in colonial America.
[12]
|
|
Leandro Fernandez de Moratin
|
1760?1828
|
Spanish
|
Dramatist and translator, support of republicanism and free thinking. Transitional figure to Romanticism.
|
|
Henry More
|
1614-1687
|
English
|
Philosopher and theologian of the Cambridge Platonist school. Teacher and correspondent of
Anne Conway
; author of numerous works, including the
Divine Dialogues
(1688) and
An Antidote against Atheism, or an Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether there be not a God,
1653
|
|
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
|
1756?1791
|
Austrian
|
A leading composer of the era. Influenced by
Haydn
, Mozart was a child prodigy born in Salzburg. He was quite popular throughout Europe in his lifetime. He died at the age of 35.
|
|
Jose Celestino Mutis
|
1755?1808
|
Spanish
|
Botanist; lead the first botanic expeditions to South America, and built a major collection of plants.
|
|
Isaac Newton
|
1642?1727
|
English
|
Lucasian professor of mathematics, Cambridge University; author of 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' and 'Opticks'.
|
|
Nikolay Novikov
|
1744?1818
|
Russian
|
Philanthropist and journalist who sought to raise the culture of Russian readers and publicly argued with the Empress. See
Russian Enlightenment
.
|
|
Dositej Obradovi?
|
1739?1811
|
Serbian
|
Writer, linguist, educator, influential proponent of Serbian cultural nationalism, and founder of The Ministry of National Education in
Karađorđe
's Serbia, and founder of the
University of Belgrade
.
|
|
Zaharije Orfelin
|
1726?1785
|
Serbian
|
Polymath-poet, writer, historian, translator, engraver, editor, publisher, etc.
|
|
Francesco Mario Pagano
|
1748?1799
|
Italian
|
Jurist and philosopher, one of the pioneers of modern criminal law.
|
|
Thomas Paine
|
1737?1809
|
English/American
|
Pamphleteer, most famous for
Common Sense
(1776), calling for American independence as the most rational solution.
|
|
Marquis of Pombal
|
1699?1782
|
Portuguese
|
Statesman notable for his swift and competent leadership in the aftermath of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. He also implemented sweeping economic policies to regulate commercial activity and standardize quality throughout the country.
|
|
Stanisław August Poniatowski
|
1732?1798
|
Polish
|
Last king of independent Poland, a leading light of the Enlightenment in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and co-author of one of the world's first modern constitutions, the Constitution of May 3, 1791.
|
|
Richard Price
|
1723?1791
|
Welsh
|
Philosopher, preacher, and mathematician.
|
|
Joseph Priestley
|
1733?1804
|
English
|
Philosopher, theologian, and chemist.
|
|
Francois Quesnay
|
1694?1774
|
French
|
Economist of the Physiocratic school.
|
|
Alexander Radishchev
|
1749?1802
|
Russian
|
Writer and philosopher. Brought the tradition of radicalism in
Russian literature
to prominence.
|
|
Jovan Raji?
|
1726?1801
|
Serbian
|
Writer, historian, traveller, and pedagogue, considered to be one of the greatest Serbian academics of the 18th century.
|
|
Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal
|
1713?1796
|
French
|
Historian and abolitionist.
|
|
Thomas Reid
|
1710?1796
|
Scottish
|
Philosopher who developed Common Sense Realism.
|
|
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|
1712?1778
|
Swiss
|
Political philosopher, educational reformer, composer; Encyclopedist who influenced many Enlightenment figures but did not himself believe in the primacy of reason and was a forerunner of
Romanticism
.
|
|
Giovanni Salvemini
|
1708-1791
|
Italian
|
Mathematician and astronomer.
|
|
Friedrich Schiller
|
1759?1805
|
German
|
Philosopher, poet, and playwright.
|
|
Adam Smith
|
1723?1790
|
Scottish
|
Economist and philosopher. Wrote
The Wealth of Nations
, in which he argued that wealth was not money in itself, but wealth was derived from the added value in manufactured items produced by both invested capital and labour. Sometimes considered to be the founding father of the laissez-faire economic theory, but in fact argues for some degree of government control in order to maintain equity. Just prior to this he wrote
Theory of Moral Sentiments
, explaining how it is humans function and interact through what he calls sympathy, setting up important context for
The Wealth of Nations
.
|
|
Jan ?niadecki
|
1756?1830
|
Polish
|
Mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer.
|
|
J?drzej ?niadecki
|
1768?1838
|
Polish
|
Writer, physician, chemist, and biologist.
|
|
Baruch Spinoza
|
1632?1677
|
Dutch
|
Philosopher and author of the
Ethics
, in which he denied the transcendence of God and compared the existence of God to nature ('deus sive natura').
|
|
Alexander Sumarokov
|
1717?1777
|
Russian
|
Poet and playwright who created classical theatre in Russia.
|
|
Emanuel Swedenborg
|
1688?1772
|
Swedish
|
Natural philosopher and theologian whose search for the operation of the soul in the body led him to construct a detailed metaphysical model for spiritual-natural causation.
|
|
Matthew Tindal
|
1657?1733
|
English
|
Deist. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.
|
John Toland
|
1670?1722
|
Irish
|
Philosopher and satirist.
|
|
Josiah Tucker
|
1713?1799
|
Welsh
|
Welsh churchman, known as an economist and political writer. He was concerned in his works with
free trade
,
Jewish emancipation
and
American independence
. He became
Dean of Gloucester
in 1758.
|
|
Pietro Verri
|
1728-1797
|
Italian
|
Philosopher, economist, and historian.
|
|
Giambattista Vico
|
1668?1744
|
Italian
|
Political philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist.
|
|
Voltaire
(Francois-Marie Arouet)
|
1694?1778
|
French
|
Highly influential writer, historian and philosopher. He promoted Newtonianism and denounced organized religion as pernicious.
|
|
Adam Weishaupt
|
1748?1830
|
German
|
Founded the
Order of the Illuminati
.
|
|
Christoph Martin Wieland
|
1733?1813
|
German
|
Philosopher and poet.
|
|
Christian Wolff
|
1679?1754
|
German
|
Philosopher and mathematician.
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Mary Wollstonecraft
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1759?1797
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English
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Writer, and pioneer feminist.
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