Philosophers

Question 1

Plato

Answer 1

An ancient Greek Philosopher who is sometimes considered the father of western philosophy. He founded the Academy in Athens, the first university in the western world.

Question 2

Socrates

Answer 2

The teacher of Plato who lived in Athens and caused controversy by disputing with people about truth and goodness. He eventually was sentenced to death and was said to have killed himself by drinking a cup of hemlock.

Question 3

David Hume (1711-1776)

Answer 3

Scottish philosopher who is best known for his views that all human knowledge is ultimately founded on experience (empiricism).

Question 4

Robert Nozick (1938-2002)

Answer 4

Harvard philosopher interested in decision theory and epistemology (how we know what we know)

Question 5

Pyrrho Of Elis (360-270 BCE)

Answer 5

A Greek philosopher who argued that there was no way of knowing whether anything was true or real or not.

Question 6

René Descartes (1596-1650)

Answer 6

A French philosopher and mathematician who explored epistemological questions in his book ‘Meditations on First Philosophy’. He came up with the phrase ‘cogito ergo sum’.

Question 7

Karl Barth (1886 - 1968)

Answer 7

A 20th century theologian who thought that we could not trust our impressions of God through experience in the natural world.

Question 8

William Paley (1743 - 1805)

Answer 8

A Church of England clergyman, theologian and philosopher. He was known for his sayings e.g. “A man who is not sometimes a fool is always one”. He came up with the ‘Design’ theory.

Question 9

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Answer 9

A philosopher, logician, historian, mathematician and social critic. He was well known for being an atheist and a leading anti-war activist.

Question 10

William Lane Craig (b. 1949)

Answer 10

An American theist philosopher who reinvented the Design Argument in recent years.

Question 11

Alvin Plantinga (b. 1932)

Answer 11

An American philosopher interested in Epistimology, known for his defence of the position that belief in God is rational.

Question 12

William Ockham (1287 - 1347)

Answer 12

An English Franciscan Friar, philosopher, and theologian.

Question 13

Karl Popper (1902 - 1994)

Answer 13

Austrian-British philosopher particularly well-known for his work in the philosophy of science who invented the Falsification Principle.

Question 14

Thomas Kuhn (1922 - 1996)

Answer 14

An American physicist, historian, and philosopher of science who developed the notion that scientific revolutions were the result of sudden ‘paradigm shifts’

Question 15

Richard Dawkins

Answer 15

A well known atheist who argued against Paley’s Design Argument.

Question 16

John Calvin

Answer 16

A supporter of Revealed Theology who claimed that scripture was like a pair of glasses. Karl Barth later supported his ideas