8 Most Famous French Philosophers Who Have Changed the World

Are you looking for the most popular French philosophers in history?

It is quite safe to say frankly that France has it all. The country is rich, beautiful, and generally safe and peaceful. And its people excel in a great number if things.

Philosophy is one of these many things.

France has produced a lot of philosophers who have not only influenced Western philosophy but changed the world as well.

French philosophy, although taken to mean philosophy in the French language, is actually very diverse – ranging from the medieval scholasticism to modern philosophy.

Let’s have a look at 8 of the most famous French philosophers who have changed the world.

8 Most Famous French Philosophers Who Have Changed the World

1. René Descartes (1596 – 1650)

Regarded as the father of modern philosophy, Rene Descartes defined a starting point for existence illustrated in his famous observation written in the 1637 Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences: “I think; therefore I am.”

Not surprisingly, he is France’s national philosopher.

Descartes was born on 31 March 1596 in the Kingdom of France’s La Haye en Touraine town (now Descartes, named after the philosopher himself).

A brilliant philosopher and mathematician, Decartes invented analytic geometry,  the bridge between algebra and geometry. He also had a law degree at age 22.

He studied theology and medicine as well, spurning all when he decided to seek “no knowledge other than that of which could be found in myself or else in the great book of the world,” – his words that are also found in the Discourse on the Method.

Descartes’s philosophy is considered to have changed the course of Western philosophy, setting the basis for modernity.

Descartes died of either pneumonia or pleuritis in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1650.

2. Voltaire (1694 – 1778)

Born François-Marie Arouet on 21 November 1694 in Paris, France, Voltaire adopted this nom de plume in 1718, after the success of the first of his tragedies, Oedipe.

Voltaire was among the leading writers of the Enlightenment. Known for his wit and criticism of slavery and the Roman Catholic Church, he believed in freedom and the efficacy of reason above all.

Through reason, social progress could be attained. Neither religious nor political authority – or any other authority – should be clear from challenge by reason.

This belief changed the world, sparking not only the French Revolution but the United States Bill of Rights and the curtailment of the power of the Catholic Church as well.

Today in most countries we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state – thanks to this French philosopher.

Voltaire died peacefully on 30 May 1778 in Paris, 12 days after being stricken with uremia.

3. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

Jean-Paul Sartre is one of the leading figures of Existentialism, the school of thought that delves into the problem of human existence and focuses on acting, feeling, and thinking. It concerns issues linked with the meaning, purpose, and value of human existence.

Sarte was a leading French philosopher and writer in the 1900s whose most notable works included Nausea (1938), Being and Nothingness (1943), and Existentialism and Humanism (1946).

Sartre won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, an award he declined, citing it would  limit the impact of his writing. Though no doubt famous and very important, Sarte remained simple and actively committed to causes until his death from edema of the lung in April of 1980.

4. Simone de Beauvoir (1908 – 1986)

Born Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir on 9 January 1908 in Paris, France, de Beauvoir became one of the most important figures in feminist existentialism and feminist theory despite not having been considered a philosopher in her lifetime.

Beauvoir was a writer whose most famous work was The Second Sex, a profound analysis of women’s oppression and today remains a landmark accomplishment in contemporary feminism. She was also known for her memoirs and novels such as the 1943 She Came to Stay and the 1954 The Mandarins.

Beauvoir was also known for her lifelong relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. She died of pneumonia in 1986 and was buried next to Sartre at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.

5. Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)

Paul-Michel Foucault, better known as Michel Foucault, was born on 15 October 1926 in Poitiers, a city in west-central France.

In his youth, he was said to be prone to self-harm and violence, once chasing a classmate with a knife. He was a bright student, however, and excelled in school, studying numerous courses until his interest focused on philosophy, influenced mostly by Nietzsche.

Foucault would become one of the most influential philosophers of his time, publishing notable works including Madness and Civilization (1961), The Birth of the Clinic (1963), The Order of Things (1966), The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969), and The History of Sexuality (1976).

Foucault’s philosophy has influenced sociologists in subfields such as the sociology of education; critical theory; and gender, sexuality and queer theory.

Foucault contracted HIV and died at the age of 57 in Paris. He was the first public figure in France to die from complications of AIDS.

6. Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)

Also known as Lord of Montaigne, Michel de Montaigne was one of the most important philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is noted for popularizing the essay as a literary genre and having a direct influence on many Western writers.

Montaigne was not a scientist, but he had influenced psychology through his thoughts and observations on human action, child education, experience, fear, happiness, and motivation, among others.

Montaigne was born on 28 February 1533 in a town now called Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne in his honor, part of the Aquitaine region of France. The US National Essay Day was based on his birthday.

7. August Comte (1798 – 1857)

Borne Isidore-Auguste-Marie-François-Xavier Comte in Montpellier, France, on 19 January 1798, Comte lived to become the founder of sociology and of positivism.

It was in 1838 that he coined the term “sociology” in reference to the scientific study of society, arguing that society needed fact-based knowledge and evidence to solve its problems.

Comte was known for his devotion to the welfare of humanity and the improvement of society in general. He also emphasized the role of women in the positivist society he planned to establish.

August Comte died of cancer at the age 59 in Paris.

8. Montesquieu (1689 – 1755)

Born to nobility as Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, this great French political philosopher was generally called as simply Montesquieu.

The French baron formulated the principle of the separation of powers, which became a cornerstone of modern democracy.

Montesquieu’s works inspired the US constituition, the most notable one being The Spirit of Laws, published in 1748. It is widely considered as one of the greatest works in the history of jurisprudence and of political theory.

He died from a high fever at the age of 66 during a visit to Paris.