THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
TNeal
SPRING 2010
PHILOSOPHERS
Your student team has been assigned a group of philosophers. Learn
about these philosophers, especially the theories for which they are
famous. Particularly, consider theories regarding epistemology. Be
prepared to compare and contrast your philosophers to each other’s
theories and philosophers who came before them—especially Plato and
Aristotle. Each member of the student team should understand all
philosophers in the assigned group. Do not divide the research up with
each student responsible for one philosopher. You may, however, divide
up the categories listed below so that each of you are looking for a
specific focus for all of the philosophers in your group.
Due date: Create a PowerPoint presentation using GoogleDocs so that
each group member can participate actively. Share your information with
each other, so every group member has both input and knowledge. Be
prepared to present your philosophers with the class on the date that
corresponds with the Sophie’s World reading assignments. Check the
website for tentative dates.
Your presentation should include the following:
 Provide an overview of each of the philosophers’ theories on
epistemology.
 Summarize the theory for which each philosopher is most famous.
 Share biographical information but only details that shed light on
the philosophers’ theories
 Explain how each philosopher relates to previous philosophy—how is
it similar and how does it differ? Point out observations made by
Gaarder in Sophie’s World.
 Do these philosophers tend to relate better to Plato or to
Aristotle? Defend your answer.
 Discuss at least one significant knowledge issue that relates to
these philosophers’ theories. State the knowledge issue as a
question, then explain how it relates to the various philosophers’
theories.
The Hellenistic/Roman Period:
 The Cynics, Diogenes of
Sinope
 The Stoics, Seneca
 Marcus Aurelius
 The Sceptics, Empiricus
Romanticims and Idealism:
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(father of Romanticism)
 George Berkeley (idealist)
 Immanuel Kant (idealist)
 George Hegel (idealist)
Toward Christian Theology
 Plotinus (neoplatonists)
 St. Augustine of Hippo
(Christian)
 Aquinas (Scholasticism)
 Thomas More (Christian
Utopia)
Liberalism and Pragmatism in the
Nineteenth Century
 John Stuart Mill (liberal)
 Mary Wollstonecraft
(liberal)
 William James (pragmatist)
Rationalism in the Age of Reason:
 Francis Bacon (Scientific
Revolution)
 Rene Descartes (rationalist)
 Benedict de Spinoza
(rationalist)
 Gottfried von Leibniz
(rationalist)
Empiricism and the
Enlightenment:
 John Locke (empiricist)
 David Hume (empiricist)
 Voltaire (empiricist)
Materialism
 Karl Marx (materialist)
 Carl Jung (materialist)
 Sigmund Freud (materialist)
Existentialism and Postmodernism
 Soren Kierkegaard
(existentialist)
 Friedrich Nietzsche
(existentialist)
 Claude Levi-Strauss
(postmodernist)
 Michel Foucault
(postmodernists)