Students and teachers of fundamental principles
Featured Individuals
- Aristotle (Ἀριστοτέλης; 384-322 BCE) - Ancient Greek philosopher, author of the Nicomachean Ethics
- Lǎozǐ (老子) - Ancient Chinese philosopher, author of the Dào Dé Jīng
- Locke, John (1632-1704) - English philosopher, author of Two Treatises of Government (1689)
- Mill, John Stuart (1806-1873) - British philosopher and economist, author of On Liberty (1859)
- Nozick, Robert (1938-2002) - Professor of philosophy, author of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974)
- Rand, Ayn (1905-1982) - Objectivist philosopher, novelist
- Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903) - Philosopher, sociologist and anthropologist, author of Social Statics (1851) and The Man Versus the State (1884)
- Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862) - Trascendentalist philosopher, author and abolitionist, noted for the essay "Resistance to Civil Government"
Notable Individuals
- Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832) - 18th/19th century English philosopher and legal scholar, an early proponent of utilitarianism
- Ferguson, Adam (1723-1816) - 18th century Scottish philosopher and historian
- Herbert, Auberon (1838-1906) - Nineteenth century English philosopher and Member of Parliament
- Hospers, John (1918-2011) - Professor of philosophy, 1972 Libertarian Presidential candidate
- Hume, David (1711-1776) - 18th century Scottish philosopher
- Hutcheson, Francis (1694-1746) - 18th century Irish philosopher
- Kelley, David (1949- ) - Founder and Executive Director of The Objectivist Center
- Machan, Tibor (1939-2016) - Professor of philosophy and business ethics, co-founder of Reason magazine
- Mandeville, Bernard (1670-1733) - 18th century Dutch philosopher, physician and satirist
- Popper, Karl (1902-1994) - 20th century Austrian-born British philosopher
- Sidney, Algernon (1623-1683) - 17th century British Member of Parliament
Other Individuals
- Aquinas, Thomas (Tommaso d'Aquino; 1225-1274) - Italian theologian and philosopher, author of Summa Theologiae
- Comte, Auguste (1798-1857) - French philosopher, founder of positivism
- Condillac, Étienne Bonnot de (1714-1780) - French philosopher, author of Essai sur l'origine des connaissances humaines (1746)
- Confucius (孔子; 551-479 BCE) - Chinese philosopher
- Dewey, John (1859-1952) - American pragmatist philosopher, educational reformer
- Dǒng Zhòngshū (董仲舒; 179-104 BCE) - Chinese philosopher and writer
- Engels, Friedrich (1820-1895) - German philosopher, co-author of the Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (1848)
- Flew, Antony (1923-2010) - British philosopher, emeritus professor of philosophy, University of Reading
- Gordon, David (1948- ) - Libertarian philosopher, senior fellow at the Mises Institute
- Green, T. H. (1836-1882) - English philosopher, member of the British idealists
- Hán Fēi (韓非; 280-233 BCE) - Chinese philosopher of the Legalist school (Fǎjiā)
- Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich (1770-1831) - German philosopher, author of Phänomenologie des Geistes ("The Phenomenology of Spirit")
- Hicks, Stephen (1960- ) - Philosopher, author of Explaining Postmodernism (2004)
- Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679) - English philosopher, author of Leviathan (1651)
- Hook, Sidney (1902-1989) - American philosopher
- Illich, Ivan (1926-2002) - 20th century philosopher, author of Deschooling Society
- James, William (1842-1910) - American philosopher and psychologist
- Jiāo Hóng (焦竑; 1540-1620) - Chinese philosopher
- Joad, C. E. M. (1891-1953) - English philosopher, author of Guide to the Philosophy of Morals and Politics (1938)
- Jouvenel, Bertrand de (1903-1987) - 20th century French philosopher
- Mably, Gabriel Bonnot de (1709-1785) - French philosopher, author of Des droits et des devoirs du citoyen
- Machiavelli, Niccolò (1469-1527) - Florentine political philosopher, author of Il Principe (1532)
- Mack, Eric (1946- ) - Philosopher, professor at Tulane University
- Martineau, James (1805-1900) - British Unitarian philosopher
- Marx, Karl (1818-1883) - German philosopher and economist, author of Das Kapital and Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei
- Mencius (孟子; 372-289 BCE) - Chinese Confucian philosopher
- Montesquieu (1689-1755) - French political philosopher, author of De l'esprit des loix (1748)
- Plato (Πλάτων; 428-347 BCE) - Greek philosopher, student of Socrates
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778) - French philosopher and writer, author of Du contrat social (1762)
- Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970) - British mathematician and analytic philosopher, awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
- Seneca (LVCIVS ANNAEVS SENECA; 4 BCE-65) - Roman Stoic philosopher, author of Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium
- Socrates (469-399 BCE) - Greek philosopher, teacher of Plato and Xenophon
- Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677) - Dutch philosopher, author of Ethica, Ordine Geometrico demonstrata (1677)
- Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet; 1694-1778) - French writer and philosopher, author of Candide, ou l'Optimisme
- Wáng Bì (王弼; 226-249) - Chinese philosopher known for his commentaries on the Dào Dé Jīng and the Yì Jīng
- Wú Chéng (吳澄; 1249-1333) - Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher who wrote commentaries on many of the Chinese classics
- Yáng Xióng (揚雄; 53 BCE-18) - Chinese philosopher
- Yáng Zhū (揚朱; 440-360 BCE) - Chinese philosopher
- Zhāng Zhàn (張湛) - Chinese philosopher of the Eastern Jin period (317-420)
- Zhū Xī (朱熹; 1130-1200) - Chinese philosopher