American People Famous Philosophers from the United States

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List of notable or famous philosophers from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top philosophers born in the United States and even some popular philosophers who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American philosophers then this list is the perfect resource for you. These philosophers are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known philosopher from the United States is included when available.

List features Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein and more.

This historic philosophers from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American philosophers of note?" and "Who are the most famous philosophers from the United States?" These prominent philosophers of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American philosophers.

Use this list of renowned American philosophers to discover some new philosophers that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. (621 items)

1
Albert Einstein is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 76 (1879-1955) Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He developed the general theory of relativity, one of the ...more

2
Bruce Lee is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 33 (1940-1973) Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong American martial artist, Hong Kong action film actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, filmmaker, and the founder of Jeet Kune Do. Lee was the son of Cantonese ...more

3
Thomas Jefferson is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 83 (1743-1826) Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. He was a spokesman for democracy, and ...more

4
Noam Chomsky is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
age 90 Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator, social justice activist, and anarcho-syndicalist advocate. Sometimes described as ...more

5
Ayn Rand is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 77 (1905-1982) Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a ...more

6
Ralph Waldo Emerson is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 79 (1803-1882) Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient ...more

7
Sun Yat-sen is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 59 (1866-1925) Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China, and medical practitioner. As the foremost pioneer of the Republic of China, Sun is referred ...more

8
W.E.B. Du Bois is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 95 (1868-1963) William Edward Burghardt "W. E. B." Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, ...more

9
Ludwig Wittgenstein is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 62 (1889-1951) Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From ...more

10
Henry David Thoreau is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 45 (1817-1862) Henry David Thoreau was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, sage writer and philosopher. He is best known for his book Walden, a ...more

11
John Dewey is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 93 (1859-1952) John Dewey, FAA was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey is one of the primary figures ...more

12
Will Rogers is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 56 (1879-1935) William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers was a Native American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator and motion picture actor. He was one of the world's most famous stars ...more

13
Cornel West is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
age 65 Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, academic, activist, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. The son of a Baptist minister, West ...more

14
John Cage is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 80 (1912-1992) John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage ...more

15
Sam Harris is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
age 51 Samuel B. "Sam" Harris is an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and the co-founder and chief executive of Project Reason, a non-profit that promotes science and secularism. ...more

16
George Santayana is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 89 (1863-1952) Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known as George Santayana, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Santayana was raised and educated in the United ...more

17
Alain LeRoy Locke is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 68 (1886-1954) Alain Leroy Locke was an American writer, philosopher, educator, and patron of the arts. Distinguished as the first African American Rhodes Scholar in 1907, Locke was the philosophical architect ...more

18
Robert Anton Wilson is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 75 (1932-2007) Robert Anton Wilson was an American author, novelist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized as an Episkopos, Pope, and saint ...more

19
Daniel Dennett is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
age 76 Daniel Clement Dennett III is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, ...more

20
Walt Whitman is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 73 (1819-1892) Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his ...more

21
Angela Davis is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
age 75 Angela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, ...more

22
Kurt Gödel is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 72 (1906-1978) Kurt Friedrich Gödel was an Austrian, and later American, logician, mathematician, and philosopher. Considered with Aristotle and Gottlob Frege to be one of the most significant logicians ...more

23
John Rawls is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 81 (1921-2002) John Bordley Rawls was an American moral and political philosopher. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University and the Fulbright Fellowship at Christ Church, ...more

24
Mary Daly is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 82 (1928-2010) Mary Daly was an American radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at Jesuit-run Boston College for ...more

25
Hannah Arendt is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list Famous Philosophers from the United States
Dec. at 69 (1906-1975) Johanna "Hannah" Arendt was a German-born political theorist. Though often described as a philosopher, she rejected that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with ...more