Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell is important to Truth By Reason because he joined logic, scepticism, anti-dogmatism and public moral concern.
Read thinker profileThinkers
Thinkers
Profiles of people who changed, challenged, shaped, improved, or distorted human thinking. This section includes philosophers, scientists, sceptics, psychologists, religious figures, political thinkers, reformers and others whose ideas affected belief, ethics, reasoning, society or conduct.
Inclusion does not mean approval. Each profile should examine contribution, influence, criticism, limitations and consequences.
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin is important to Truth By Reason because his work transformed human understanding of life, species, origins and humanity’s place in nature.
Read thinker profileChrysippus
The third head of the Stoic school and its principal early system-builder.
Read thinker profileCleanthes
Successor to Zeno and an important early defender of Stoicism, best known for the Hymn to Zeus.
Read thinker profileConfucius
Confucius was an ancient Chinese teacher and thinker whose teachings became foundational to Confucian ethics, education and political thought.
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David Hume
David Hume is important to Truth By Reason because he challenged weak claims about miracles, causation, religion and certainty through sceptical and empirical reasoning.
Read thinker profileDoreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente was an influential Wiccan priestess and writer who helped shape major ritual texts and the public identity of modern Wicca.
Read thinker profileEpictetus
A former enslaved person who became a major Stoic teacher of freedom, responsibility and disciplined judgement.
Read thinker profileGerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner was the principal public founder and promoter of modern Wicca in twentieth-century Britain.
Read thinker profileLaozi
Laozi is the traditional author associated with the Dao De Jing and one of the foundational figures of Taoism.
Read thinker profileMahavira
Mahavira is regarded in Jainism as the twenty-fourth Tirthankara and the central teacher associated with the historical formation of the present Jain community.
Read thinker profileMarcus Aurelius
Roman emperor whose private reflections, now called the Meditations, explore duty, mortality and self-command.
Read thinker profileMargot Adler
Margot Adler was an American journalist and Pagan writer whose Drawing Down the Moon became an influential survey of modern Paganism in the United States.
Read thinker profileMencius
Mencius was an influential Confucian philosopher who argued that human beings possess natural beginnings of compassion and moral virtue that require cultivation.
Read thinker profileMusonius Rufus
A Roman Stoic teacher who treated philosophy as training for ethical conduct rather than abstract study alone.
Read thinker profilePlato
Plato was a student of Socrates, founder of the Academy and one of the most influential philosophers in the Western tradition.
Read thinker profileSeneca
Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman and writer whose works examine time, death, anger, wealth and virtue.
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Socrates
Socrates is important to Truth By Reason because he represents disciplined questioning, the examination of assumptions, and the idea that untested beliefs may be dangerous.
Read thinker profileStarhawk
Starhawk is an influential modern Pagan writer, ritualist and activist associated with Goddess spirituality, Reclaiming witchcraft, ecology and social action.
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The Buddha
The Buddha is important to Truth By Reason because his teaching placed suffering, craving, impermanence and mental discipline at the centre of human inquiry.
Read thinker profileUmasvati
Umasvati, also called Umasvami, is the Jain philosopher associated with the Tattvartha Sutra, an influential systematic presentation of Jain doctrine.
Read thinker profileZeno of Citium
Founder of the Stoic school, which began teaching in Athens around the beginning of the third century BCE.
Read thinker profileZhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Daoist philosopher whose associated text uses stories and paradox to question certainty, rigid distinctions and conventional values.
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