Emilie du Chatelet, a French philosopher in the 1700s Did Emilie du Chatelet go to school? Emilie du Chatelet's rich father, who was interested in literature and science, hired tutors [...]
David Hume, the European philosopher Who was David Hume? Soon after Hobbes and Locke died, starting in 1739 AD, David Hume published more important books about philosophy. Hume disagreed with Descartes' idea that people did what [...]
David Hume, the European philosopher So David Hume died of cancer in 1776 AD, just as Americans were writing the Declaration of Independence. Hume's ideas had a huge effect on the Declaration of [...]
René Descartes Who was Descartes? René Descartes was one of the earliest philosophers of the European Enlightenment, in the early 1600s AD. He was just 8 years younger than Hobbes. While Descartes [...]
Simone de Beauvoir was a philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's childhood Simone de Beauvoir's family lost most of their money after World War I. But by the early 1900s, even struggling families [...]
Margaret Cavendish Who was Margaret Cavendish? Margaret Cavendish was a little younger than Hobbes and Descartes, but she knew both men. She had many philosophical debates with them when they were all living [...]
Mary Astell Mary Astell's backstory Unlike the slightly older Masham, and most other Enlightenment philosophers, Mary Astell was not from a really rich family. Who was Damaris Masham? Enlightenment philosophers European philosophers [...]
A book in Thomas Aquinas' handwriting For many years before Thomas Aquinas was born, men like Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd in the Abbasid Empire had been reading the Quran, and reading Aristotle, and trying to find ways to [...]
Naples, with Mount Vesuvius in the background Like Ibn Rushd and Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas was a great thinke who tried to figure out the relationship between science and religion. But unlike Ibn Rushd [...]
Ibn Rushd prayed and studied in this Cordoba mosque Can science and religion work together? Since the time of Socrates - or before - many people have tried to figure out [...]
