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Political philosophy: Quick Facts

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The Code of Hammurabi diorite stela, with carved figures at the top showing Hammurabi seated with cuneiform inscriptions below.
The Greek philosopher Plato
Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background.
Marble bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, shown with short hair and draped clothing, displayed against a black background.
Christian bishop and theologian St. Augustine
Mosaic portrait of Emperor Justinian I with a jeweled crown and halo, from the 6th-century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.
St. Thomas Aquinas
Domenico di Michelino: Dante Reading from the Divine Comedy
Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli by Santi di Tito shows Machiavelli in black and red robes, holding a document, against a plain background.
Portrait of Benedict de Spinoza, 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, with shoulder-length dark hair, white collar, and black robe, set against a dark background.
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Key People

Marble bust of Aristotle with a beard and draped robe, showing detailed facial features and wavy hair, set against a dark background.
Aristotle
Greek philosopher
Socrates
Socrates
Greek philosopher
The Greek philosopher Plato
Plato
Greek philosopher
John Locke
John Locke
English philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Swiss-born French philosopher
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
German philosopher
Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli by Santi di Tito shows Machiavelli in black and red robes, holding a document, against a plain background.
Niccolò Machiavelli
Italian statesman and writer
David Hume
David Hume
Scottish philosopher
English philosopher Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
English philosopher
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
British philosopher and economist
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
British logician and philosopher
Oval portrait print of Montesquieu by Pierre Michel Alix after Jean Francois Garnerey, showing Montesquieu with long curly white hair and a fur-trimmed robe, facing forward.
Montesquieu
French political philosopher
Burke, Edmund
Edmund Burke
British philosopher and statesman
Karl Jaspers
Karl Jaspers
German philosopher
Portrait of British philosopher Herbert Spencer, shown with a receding hairline, long sideburns, and formal attire.
Herbert Spencer
British philosopher
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
English clergyman and scientist
Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
French philosopher
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick
American philosopher
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Johann Gottlieb Fichte
German philosopher
Reinhold Niebuhr
Reinhold Niebuhr
American theologian