List of known ethicists
The list of well-known ethicists includes people who have made a significant contribution to the development and communication of ethics from its beginnings to the present day.
A.
- Hans Albert (* 1921), German philosopher, critical rationalist and utilitarian
- GEM Anscombe (1919–2001), British analytical philosopher and Catholic theologian, introduced the concept of consequentialism
- Arno Anzenbacher (* 1940), German social ethicist of Catholic denomination
- Karl-Otto Apel (1922–2017), German philosopher and discourse ethicist
- Aristotle (384–322 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, political theorist and ethicist, understood ethics as part of politics
- Alfons Auer (1915-2005), German Catholic moral theologian
- Alfred Jules Ayer (1910–1989), British philosopher, logical empiricist, metaethicist
- Joxe Azurmendi (* 1941), Basque writer, philosopher, essayist and poet
B.
- Kurt Baier (1917–2010), Australian-American moral philosopher of Austrian origin
- Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), British lawyer and philosopher, founder of utilitarianism
- Dieter Birnbacher (* 1946), German philosopher with an analytical orientation with a focus on ethics and applied ethics (bioethics, medical ethics)
- Simon Blackburn (* 1944), British philosopher with an analytical orientation with a focus on ethics and metaethics
- Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (1930–2019), German constitutional and administrative lawyer, judge at the Federal Constitutional Court, legal philosopher and author of the Böckenförde dictum named after him
- Francis Herbert Bradley (1846–1924), British philosopher, idealist, was the first to raise the question: "Why should I be moral?"
- Richard Brandt (1910–1997), American philosopher, utilitarian
- Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971), British philosopher and emergence theorist
- James M. Buchanan (1919–2013), American economist and social justice theorist
C.
- Chrysippus (281 / 76–208 / 04 BC), Greek philosopher, Stoic
- Cicero (106–43 BC), Roman lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher
- James W. Cornman (1929–1978), American philosopher with an analytical orientation with a focus on the mind-body problem
D.
- Democritus (460–371 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, atomistic materialist and hedonist
E.
- Epictetus (around 50– around 125), Roman stoic
- Epicurus (around 341–271 / 270 BC), founder of the Kepos (the “garden”), negative hedonist
- Eudoxus of Knidos (397 / 390–345 / 338 BC), ancient Greek mathematician, doctor and philosopher who was in close contact with the Platonic Academy, hedonist
- Alfred Cyril Ewing (1899–1973), British philosopher, idealist, religious philosopher and criminal theorist
F.
- Christoph Fehige (* 1963), German philosopher with an analytical orientation with a focus on practical philosophy (applied ethics)
- Dagmar Fenner (* 1971), Swiss philosopher
- Philippa Foot (1920–2010), English philosopher and one of the founders of modern virtue ethics
- William K. Frankena (1908–1994), American analytical philosopher with a focus on ethics
G
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , called Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Indian lawyer and political-spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, founder of the concept of nonviolent resistance
- David Gauthier (* 1932), Canadian philosopher, contract theorist (contractualist)
- Peter Geach (1916–2013), British logician and religious philosopher with an analytical orientation and Catholic denomination
- Arnold Gehlen (1904–1976), German philosopher, advocate of pluralistic ethics and critic of hypermorality
- Bernward Gesang (* 1968), German philosopher with a utilitarian orientation with a focus on business ethics
- William Godwin (1756–1836), British writer and social philosopher, founder of socialism and political anarchism
H
- Jürgen Habermas (* 1929), German philosopher and sociologist, one of the founders of discourse ethics
- Christoph Halbig (* 1972), German philosopher with a focus on metaethics, normative ethics, general theory of values
- Richard Mervyn Hare (1919–2002), British philosopher, ethicist and metaethicist and founder of universal prescriptivism
- John Harsanyi (1920–2000), Hungarian-American economist and game theorist, utilitarian, founder of the principle of average utility and the equal probability model
- Eduard von Hartmann (1842–1906), German philosopher, advocate of affirmation of the will to live in rejection of Schopenhauer's quietistic pessimism
- Nicolai Hartmann (1882–1950), German philosopher, advocate of a material ethics of values following Max Scheler
- Friedhelm Hengsbach (* 1937), German Catholic theologian and philosopher, Jesuit, social ethicist
- Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), English mathematician, state theorist and philosopher, advocate of natural law
- Otfried Höffe (* 1943), German philosopher with a focus on ethics, social philosophy and political philosophy
- Norbert Hoerster (* 1937), German legal, social and moral philosopher
- Helga Hörz (* 1935), German philosopher, ethicist and international women's rights activist
- Vittorio Hösle (* 1960), German philosopher with a focus on discourse ethics and ecological ethics
- Ludger Honnefelder (* 1936), German philosopher of Catholic denomination
- Detlef Horster (* 1942), German philosopher, general and applied ethics, post-Christian ethics
- David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher, economist and historian, representative of the ethics of feeling (ethics of moral sense)
- Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746), Irish philosopher and economist, utilitarian
J
- Richard Joyce (* 1966), Australian philosopher and metaethicist
K
- Callicles (late 5th century BC), Greek sophist
- Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), German philosopher, important exponent of deontological ethics, formulated the categorical imperative
- Helmut F. Kaplan (* 1952), Austrian philosopher and author
- Kleanthes (c. 331 - c. 232 BC), Greek stoic
- Confucius (approx. 551–479 BC), Chinese philosopher
- Christine Korsgaard (* 1952), Neo-Kantian
- Hans Küng (* 1928), Swiss theologian of Catholic denomination, religious ethicist and initiator of the Global Ethic Foundation
- Franz von Kutschera (* 1932), German philosopher with an analytical orientation
L.
- Laotse (probably 6th century BC), legendary Chinese philosopher, founder of Daoism
- John Locke (1632–1704), British philosopher, empiricist, proponent of natural law and contract theorist
- Hermann Lübbe (* 1926), German philosopher, representative of common sense and decisionist
- Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995), Franco-Lithuanian philosopher
- Rupert Lay (* 1929), German philosopher, Catholic theologian, psychotherapist and business consultant
M.
- Alasdair MacIntyre (* 1929), Scottish-American philosopher, advocate of virtue ethics and communitarianism and ethics historian
- Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian state philosopher, representative of a power-political stance based on the common good and reasons of state
- John Leslie Mackie (1917–1981), Australian philosopher with an analytical orientation, proponent of the so-called moral error theory and philosopher of religion
- Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733), Dutch doctor and social theorist
- John McDowell (* 1942), South African philosopher with an analytical orientation, metaethicist
- Georg Meggle (* 1944), German philosopher with an analytical orientation, ethicist and metaethicist
- Mengzi (around 370 – around 290 BC), Chinese philosopher, representative of Confucianism
- Dietmar Mieth (* 1940), German moral theologian and social ethicist of the Catholic denomination
- John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), English philosopher and economist, advocate of liberalism and utilitarianism
- Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973), Austrian-American economist, representative of liberalism
- George Edward Moore (1873–1958), English philosopher with an analytical orientation, representative of a non-Naturlaistic ethic, metaethicist
- Mozi (5th century BC), Chinese philosopher, founder and namesake of Mohism, a Chinese school of philosophy that aims for justice, peace and prosperity of the people through mutual love and support
N
- Thomas Nagel (* 1937), American philosopher with an analytical orientation
- Julian Nida-Rümelin (* 1954), German philosopher with an analytical orientation
- Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher, moral critic
- Martha Nussbaum (* 1947), philosopher and professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago
O
- Wilhelm von Ockham (around 1285–1347), medieval philosopher and theologian
P
- Derek Parfit (1942–2017), British philosopher with a focus on normative ethics and moral greening
- Annemarie Pieper (* 1941), German philosopher with a focus on ethics
- Plato (428 / 427–348 / 347 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, developed a virtue ethic and a social ethic
- Mark de Bretton Platts (* 1947), British philosopher and opponent of Humean motivation theory
- Thomas Pogge (* 1953), German political philosopher and ethicist
- Harold Arthur Prichard (1871–1947), English moral philosopher
- Protagoras (around 470 – around 411), ancient Greek philosopher, representative of sophistry and author of the homo-mensura sentence
Q
- Michael Quante (* 1962), German philosopher, general and biomedical ethics
R.
- John Rawls (1921–2002), American Philosopher, A Theory of Justice
- Robert Reininger (1869–1955), Austrian philosopher, advocate of a philosophy of values
- Friedo Ricken (* 1934), German Jesuit and philosopher, general ethics
- Heinrich Rickert (1863–1936), German philosopher, advocate of a philosophy of values
- William David Ross (1877–1971), Scottish philosopher and main exponent of intuitionist ethics
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Swiss philosopher, advocate of an ethic of "innate love for the good"
- Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), British philosopher, metaethicist, pacifist
S.
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), French philosopher, main exponent of existentialism
- Thomas M. Scanlon (* 1940), American philosopher with a focus on ethics and political philosophy
- Max Scheler (1874–1928), German philosopher, advocate of a material ethics of values
- Eberhard Schockenhoff (1953–2020), German moral theologian and member of the German Ethics Council
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), German philosopher, advocate of an ethic of compassion
- Rudolf Schüßler (* 1960), German moral philosopher
- Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), German philosopher, in awe of life
- Seneca (approx. 1–65 AD), Roman philosopher, representative of Stoicism
- Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900), English philosopher, connection between common-sense morality and utilitarianism
- Ludwig Siep (* 1942), German philosopher, recognition, natural and cultural ethics
- Marcus George Singer (1926–2016), American philosopher, metaethics, moral argument
- Peter Singer (* 1946), Australian philosopher with a preferential utilitarian orientation
- John Jamieson Carswell Smart (1920–2012), British-Australian philosopher, utilitarian
- Adam Smith (1723-1790), Scottish philosopher, representative of a Theory of Moral Sentiments ( moral sentiments )
- Socrates (469–399 BC), ancient Greek philosopher without a written legacy, one of the founders of philosophical ethics, defined virtue as knowledge
- Robert Spaemann (1927–2018), German philosopher of Catholic denomination, general ethics, eudaemonism, euthanasia debate, animal ethics
- Titus Stahl (* 1979), German philosopher with a focus on metaethics, general ethics and social philosophy
- Charles L. Stevenson (1908–1979), American philosopher, metaethicist, advocate of non-descriptivism
- Max Stirner (1806–1856), German philosopher, ethical egoist and amoralist
- Michael Stocker (*), American philosopher specializing in ethics and moral psychology
T
- Thomas Aquinas (around 1225–1274), Christian theologian and philosopher, advocate of the concept of cardinal virtues
- Thrasymachus (last third of the 5th century BC), ancient Greek philosopher, advocate of sophistry and a natural law of the strong
- Ernst Tugendhat (* 1930), German philosopher with an analytical orientation, worked on general ethics
W.
- Max Weber (1864–1920), German sociologist, author of the book "The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism"
- Ulla Wessels (* 1965), German philosopher, works on desire, consequentialism, the welfare concept, utilitarianism, supererogation, moral psychology, the meaning of life and bioethics (abortion, genetic engineering)
- David Wiggins (* 1933), British philosopher, general ethics and philosophy of values
- Jean-Claude Wolf (* 1953), German philosopher, general and applied ethics, utilitarianism, egoism, evil, animal ethics, ethical criminal theories
- Ursula Wolf (* 1951), German philosopher, metaethics, eudaemonism, animal ethics
- Christian Wolff (1679–1754), German philosopher, representative of the philosophy of natural law
Z
- Zeno of Kition (around 333 / 332–262 / 261 BC), ancient Greek philosopher, founder of the Stoa
See also
literature
- Biographical encyclopedia of German-speaking philosophers. On the basis of the published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus . › German Biographical Encyclopedia ‹ edited by Bruno Jahn. De Gruyter - Saur, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-598-11430-3 . - book review
- Burkhard Mojsisch , Stefan Jordan: Philosophers lexicon. Reclam, Stuttgart 2009.
Web links
- Alphabetical list of philosophers (online supplement to: Wulff D. Rehfus , Handwortbuch Philosophie . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003).