Over the course of the semester, we’ll be hearing about, and sometimes reading texts from, a number of authors. I thought it might help you to have a map of some of the most influential people writing on our topic, who we’ll be encountering a number of times:
- Rene Descartes was a French philosopher (who wrote in Latin and French) in the mid 1600s
- John Locke was an English philosopher who wrote in the late 1600s
- Samuel Clarke was an English minister and philosopher who wrote in the early 1700s
- Joseph Butler was an English bishop and philosopher who wrote in the early/mid 1700s
- David Hume was a Scottish philosopher who wrote in the mid 1700s
- Thomas Reid was a Scottish philosopher who wrote in the mid/late 1700s
- William Hazlitt was an English essayist, critic, and philosopher who wrote in the early 1800s
- Bernard Williams was a 20th century English philosopher who began writing on personal identity in the mid 1950s. He died about twenty years ago.
- Derek Parfit was another 20th century English philosopher. He died a few years ago.
- Sydney Shoemaker was a 20th century American philosopher. He was an undergrad teacher of mine, and died this year. His son, David Shoemaker, is also a philosopher who writes on personal identity and authored one of our introductory reading selections.
Major historical critics of Locke: Clarke, Butler, Reid.
Major philosophers defending views like Locke in the 20th/21st centuries: Quinton, Grice, Perry, Shoemaker, David Lewis; in some ways also Parfit.