philosopher - a specialist in philosophyphilosophy - the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics nativist - a philosopher who subscribes to nativism Cynic - a member of a group of ancient Greek philosophers who advocated the doctrine that virtue is the only good and that the essence of virtue is self-control empiricist - a philosopher who subscribes to empiricism existentialist - a philosopher who emphasizes freedom of choice and personal responsibility but who regards human existence in a hostile universe as unexplainable gymnosophist - member of a Hindu sect practicing gymnosophy (especially nudism) libertarian - someone who believes the doctrine of free will mechanist - a philosopher who subscribes to the doctrine of mechanism moralist - a philosopher who specializes in morals and moral problems naturalist - an advocate of the doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms necessitarian - someone who does not believe the doctrine of free will pluralist - a philosopher who believes that no single explanation can account for all the phenomena of nature realist - a philosopher who believes that universals are real and exist independently of anyone thinking of them scholar, scholarly person, student - a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines Scholastic - a Scholastic philosopher or theologian Sophist - any of a group of Greek philosophers and teachers in the 5th century BC who speculated on a wide range of subjects Stoic - a member of the ancient Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno; "a Stoic achieves happiness by submission to destiny" yogi - one who practices yoga and has achieved a high level of spiritual insight Anaxagoras - a presocratic Athenian philosopher who maintained that everything is composed of very small particles that were arranged by some eternal intelligence (500-428 BC) Anaximander - a presocratic Greek philosopher and student of Thales who believed the universal substance to be infinity rather than something resembling ordinary objects (611-547 BC) Anaximenes - a presocratic Greek philosopher and associate of Anaximander who believed that all things are made of air in different degrees of density (6th century BC) Arendt, Hannah Arendt - United States historian and political philosopher (born in Germany) (1906-1975) Aristotle - one of the greatest of the ancient Athenian philosophers; pupil of Plato; teacher of Alexander the Great (384-322 BC) |