Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.

We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.

To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).

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List of the most influential people in Philosophy,

#2701

Studs Terkel

#1313

Overall Influence

1912 - 2008 (96 years)

Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.

#2702

Wolfgang Schirmacher

#37420

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (80 years)

Wolfgang Schirmacher is a German philosopher, editor and educator in the field of philosophy, art and critical thought. He was the Founding Dean of the Media and Communications division at the European Graduate School, where he now is a full professor and holder of the Arthur Schopenhauer Chair of Philosophy. He has edited several journals and written books, as well as developed curricula in philosophical disciplines at major universities.

#2703

Teoman Duralı

#32221

Overall Influence

1947 - 2021 (74 years)

Şaban Teoman Duralı was Turkish philosopher, thinker and academician, who was faculty at the Department of Philosophy, Ibn Haldun University. He wrote many articles and books and was widely published in areas such as history of philosophy, history of biology, linguistics, political philosophy and the philosophy of war.

#2704

Winona LaDuke

#4425

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Winona LaDuke is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice President of the United States as the nominee of the Green Party of the United States, on a ticket headed by Ralph Nader. She is the executive director and a co-founder of Honor the Earth, a Native environmental advocacy organization that played an active role in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

#2705

Pierre A. Riffard

#46373

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (78 years)

Pierre A. Riffard is a French philosopher and specialist in esotericism. Born in Toulouse , he is a professor of pedagogy and philosophy at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana . Teaching in the French overseas departments and territories and elsewhere: Asia, Oceania, Sub-Saharan Africa, Guiana.

#2706

Emil. J. Freireich

#78961

Overall Influence

#2707

Alexander Broadie

#57043

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

Alexander Broadie , Scottish philosopher, emeritus professor of logic and rhetoric at Glasgow University. He writes on the Scottish philosophical tradition, chiefly the philosophy of the Pre-Reformation period, the 17th century, and the Enlightenment.

#2708

Maurizio Fava

#78984

Overall Influence

#2709

Arif Ahmed

#55115

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (50 years)

Arif Mohuiddin Ahmed is the Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom of the Office for Students, following his appointment in June 2023. Prior to this, Ahmed was a philosopher at the University of Cambridge, where he became a fellow of Gonville and Caius College in 2015, university reader in philosophy in 2016, and Nicholas Sallnow-Smith College Lecturer in 2019. His research interests include decision theory and the philosophy of religion, from an atheist and libertarian point of view. Ahmed studied mathematics at the University of Oxford and philosophy at the University of Sussex...

#2710

Enid Mumford

#7364

Overall Influence

1924 - 2006 (82 years)

Enid Mumford was a British social scientist, computer scientist and Professor Emerita of Manchester University and a visiting fellow at Manchester Business School, largely known for her work on human factors and socio-technical systems.

#2711

H. J. McCloskey

#75803

Overall Influence

1925 - Present (99 years)

Henry John McCloskey was an Australian moral philosopher and writer. McCloskey was Professor of Philosophy at La Trobe University in Melbourne. After graduating from the University of Melbourne, he had appointments at the University of Western Australia and the University of Melbourne before taking up a chair at La Trobe. He was president of the Australasian Association of Philosophy in 1978. McCloskey is known for his sheriff scenario, a thought experiment he used to criticize "extreme" utilitarianism, or what later came to be known as act utilitarianism.

#2712

Arthur Zajonc

#13906

Overall Influence

1949 - Present (75 years)

Arthur Guy Zajonc is a physicist and the author of several books related to science, mind, and spirit; one of these is based on dialogues about quantum mechanics with the Dalai Lama. Zajonc, professor emeritus at Amherst College as of 2012, has been teaching there since 1978. He has served as the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America. From January 2012 to June 2015 he was president of the Mind and Life Institute.

#2713

Jacques Pouysségur

#62213

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

Jacques Pouysségur is a French engineer and researcher. He was born on November 10, 1943, in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne. He is a research director emeritus of the CNRS. He has conducted research at the Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging, Nice , at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. From 2013 to 2021, he also worked in the Department of Medical Biology, Scientific Centre of Monaco . He has been the head of the Tumor Hypoxia and Metabolism Team and a visiting professor at Kyoto Medical University, Kyoto, Japan, since 2013.

#2714

Scott Halstead

#56902

Overall Influence

1930 - Present (94 years)

Scott Halstead is an American physician-scientist, virologist and epidemiologist known for his work in the fields of tropical medicine and vaccine development. He is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, including Dengue, Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya and Zika. He was one of the first researchers to identify the phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement , where the antibodies generated from a first dengue infection can sometimes worsen the symptoms from a second infection.

#2715

Bong-Ho Son

#22287

Overall Influence

1938 - Present (86 years)

Bong-Ho Son is a South Korean Christian ethics scholar and social activist. Son was born in Korea, and graduated from and Seoul National University. He then studied theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in the United States, and received his Ph.D from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He has taught at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Seoul National University, and has served as president of Hansung University and of Dongduk Women's University. In 2011, he established the Sharing National Movement Headquarters, where he is in charge of representation. He is w...

#2716

Richard Lints

#48868

Overall Influence

Richard Lints is the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's Hamilton Campus. He is also the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell and is an author. Lints has been with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary since 1986.

#2717

Paul Cilliers

#22834

Overall Influence

1956 - 2011 (55 years)

Friedrich Paul Cilliers was a South-African philosopher, complexity researcher, and Professor in Complexity and Philosophy at Stellenbosch University. He was known for his contributions in the field of complex systems.

#2718

Max Harry Weil

#79279

Overall Influence

#2719

Christine Overall

#55940

Overall Influence

1949 - Present (75 years)

Christine Overall FRSC is a Canadian philosopher specialising in feminist theory and applied ethics. She currently holds a Research Chair at Queen's University. Her books include Aging, Death, and Human Longevity: A Philosophical Inquiry, which was awarded the 2006 Abbyann D. Lynch Medal in Bioethics, and Why Have Children? The Ethical Debate. In 1998, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

#2720

Mark Addis

#60363

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Mark Addis FRSA is a British philosopher who is known for his work on Ludwig Wittgenstein Biography Addis grew up in Bolton, England, and was educated at Bolton School, Mansfield College, Oxford, the University of Leeds, the University of York and Birmingham City University. He has been a visiting scholar at Georgia State University, USA and at Aarhus University, Denmark. Addis has since 2006 been general editor of the Philosophy Insights series for Humanities-Ebooks LLP. He was treasurer of the British Philosophical Association. Addis was a consultant for the film Le Week-End.

#2721

Ralph Weichselbaum

#69002

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (79 years)

Ralph R. Weichselbaum is an American physician specializing in radiation oncology, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Ludwig professor, He is Daniel K. Ludwig Distinguished Service Professor of Radiation Oncology and Chairman, Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology, at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and Head of the University of Chicago Center for Radiation Therapy, and the director of the Chicago Tumor Institute. Weichselbaum is also Co- Director of the Ludwig Center for Metastasis Research at the University o...

#2722

David H. Spodick

#79434

Overall Influence

#2723

Edith Wyschogrod

Edith Wyschogrod

#52186

Overall Influence

1930 - 2009 (79 years)

Edith Wyschogrod was an American philosopher. She received her A.B. from Hunter College in 1957 and her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1970. Wyschogrod joined Rice's Religious Studies Department in 1992, as the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Thought; she retired in 2002, and held the title of professor emeritus from 2003. Wyschogrod was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , a Guggenheim Fellow , and a fellow of the National Humanities Center . She served one term as president of the American Academy of Religion .

#2724

Wacław Szybalski

Wacław Szybalski

#24563

Overall Influence

1921 - 2020 (99 years)

Wacław Szybalski was a Polish-American medical researcher, geneticist and professor of oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical School. Early life Wacław Szybalski was born in September 1921 in Lwów, Poland, into a Polish intelligentsia family. His father Stefan was an engineer, and his mother, Michalina née Rakowska, was a Doctor of Chemistry. The Szybalski family maintained close friendships with numerous leading representatives of the Polish intelligentsia in Lwów, including Professor Jan Czekanowski, the father of Polish anthropology,...

#2725

Andy Miah

#46833

Overall Influence

1975 - Present (49 years)

Andy Miah is an English bioethicist, academic and journalist. His work often focuses on technology and posthumanism. Early life Andy Miah was born in Norwich to a Bangladeshi father and an English mother.

#2726

Timothy Binkley

Timothy Binkley

#43360

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

Timothy Binkley , is an American philosopher, artist, and teacher, known for his radical writings about conceptual art and aesthetics, as well as several essays that help define computer art. He is also known for his interactive art installations.

#2727

Francesco Blasi

#78492

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Francesco Blasi is an Italian Medical scientist and professor. His domain of research is respiratory medicine. He has been the president of European Respiratory Society during 2012–13. He has served as the president of Italian Respiratory Society during 2015–17. He is presently serving as one of the board of directors of University of Milan and is the professor of respiratory medicine in department pathophysiology and transplantation in University of Milan.

#2728

Slavoj Žižek

#79496

Overall Influence

#2729

Javier Gomá

#37885

Overall Influence

1965 - Present (59 years)

Javier Gomá Lanzón is a Spanish philosopher, writer and essayist, author of the Tetralogía de la ejemplaridad and a theatrical trilogy. He is also the Executive Director of the Juan March Foundation.

#2730

Iwao Hirose

#76088

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Iwao Hirose is a Japanese philosopher and economist. He is currently associate professor at McGill University. Background Iwao Hirose was educated at Waseda University and at University of St Andrews, where he received a PhD. Iwase has previously had tenures at the University College, Oxford and Harvard University.

#2731

Gerd Buchdahl

#47780

Overall Influence

1914 - 2001 (87 years)

Gerd Buchdahl was a German-English philosopher of science. Life Buchdahl was born to German-Jewish parents in Mainz; his younger brother, Hans Adolph Buchdahl was a well-known physicist. Both were transported from Britain to Australia as enemy aliens in 1940 on the Dunera. He became the first lecturer in history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge. A founding fellow of Darwin College, he became University Reader in 1966 and was the Tarner Lecturer at Trinity College in 1973, speaking on Science and rational structures.

#2732

Joseph Warkany

#79602

Overall Influence

#2733

George F. Cahill Jr.

#50220

Overall Influence

1927 - 2012 (85 years)

George F. Cahill Jr. was an American scientist who significantly advanced the diabetes mellitus research of the 20th century. He focused on metabolic research, especially concerning human glucose metabolism in diabetic and normal conditions; he also investigated the effect of hunger and fasting on metabolic pathways and ketose processes. He was author and co-author of nearly 200 articles in scientific magazines and books.

#2734

Irene Higginson

#76862

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (66 years)

Irene J. Higginson is a British professor, head of department and the director of King's College London's Cicely Saunders Institute. Higginson has a medical degree from the University of Nottingham.

#2735

Carl Davidson

#20214

Overall Influence

1943 - Present (81 years)

Carl Davidson is a former student leader of the New Left of the 1960s, serving as a Vice President and National Secretary of Students for a Democratic Society. From 1968 to 1976, he worked on the Guardian newsweekly as a writer and news editor. Born in 1943, he graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Penn State, and later taught and did graduate work at the University of Nebraska, between 1965 and 1966.

#2736

Didier Kaphagawani

#66973

Overall Influence

Didier Njirayamanda Kaphagawani or Didier Kaphagawani was a Malawian philosopher. He is known for his ideas on African philosophy. This included ideas on African epistemology and African understandings of personhood.

#2737

Włodzimierz Julian Korab-Karpowicz

Włodzimierz Julian Korab-Karpowicz

#41141

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Włodzimierz Julian Korab-Karpowicz is a Polish philosopher and political theorist. Biography W. J. Korab-Karpowicz was born in Gliwice, Poland in 1953. He comes from a noble Polish family. Korab, included in his family name, refers to the Korab coat of arms. His grandfather Jan Korab-Karpowicz was a distinguished lawyer and cavalry officer in the pre-war Poland. In his early youth he lived in Gdańsk and then in Sopot, where he completed high school. He studied engineering at the Gdańsk University of Technology, where, in 1977, he completed a master's degree in Electronic Engineering.

#2738

Joseph Kaipayil

#79307

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Joseph Kaipayil is an Indian philosopher, who expounds a relationalist theory of reality. He is professor of philosophy at Jeevalaya Institute of Philosophy, Bangalore. In his writings one finds a sustained and systematic articulation of relationalism as a distinct philosophical theory. His works include: The Epistemology of Comparative Philosophy , Critical Ontology: An Introductory Essay , Human as Relational: A Study in Critical Ontology , An Essay on Ontology , and Relationalism: A Theory of Being .

#2739

Graeme Nicholson

#59061

Overall Influence

1936 - 2021 (85 years)

Graeme Nicholson was a Canadian philosopher and Emeritus Professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto known for his research on ontology, hermeneutics, and anarchism. He completed his doctorate at the University of Toronto with a thesis on Heidegger directed by Emil Fackenheim.

#2740

Walter Schweidler

#63615

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Walter Rudolf Schweidler is a German philosopher. Life Since 2009, Schweidler has occupied the chair for philosophy at the Catholic University of Eichstätt; having previously taught philosophy at the Ruhr University Bochum, the University of Dortmund, and PH Weingarten. He is a student of Robert Spaemann, and was his assistant from 1985 to 1992 at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he completed graduate and postgraduate studies in philosophy, Catholic theology, political science and law. His master’s thesis on Wittgenstein’s concept of philosophy was published in 1983 , his doc...

#2741

James Higginbotham

#37769

Overall Influence

1941 - 2014 (73 years)

James Higginbotham FBA was a distinguished professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Southern California. He taught previously at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, and at the University of Oxford as a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.

#2742

Kohei Saito

#28411

Overall Influence

1987 - Present (37 years)

is a Japanese philosopher. He is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo. Saito works on ecology and political economy from a Marxist perspective. His book, Capital in the Anthropocene, has been credited for inspiring a resurgence of interest in Marxist thought in Japan.

#2743

Jannis Kounellis

Jannis Kounellis

#10371

Overall Influence

1936 - 2017 (81 years)

Jannis Kounellis was a Greek Italian artist based in Rome. A key figure associated with Arte Povera, he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. Life and work Kounellis was born in Piraeus, Greece in 1936. He lived in Greece during the Second World War and Greek Civil War before he moved to Rome in 1956.

#2744

Ike Odimegwu

#54711

Overall Influence

Ike Ferdinand Odimegwu is a Nigerian professor of philosophy and political philosopher. Early life He was born at Obiaruku, a city in Delta State, southern Nigeria. He was a student under the tutelage of Theophilus Okere, a renowned Nigerian philosopher at Owerri, the capital of Imo State, Nigeria. He later obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Nigeria.

#2745

Jay A. Nadel

#79857

Overall Influence

#2746

Christian Barry

#30612

Overall Influence

Christian Barry is an American philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. He is a co-editor of the Journal of Political Philosophy and a former head of the School of Philosophy in the Research School of the Social Sciences at the ANU. Barry is known for his research on international justice. Christian was a program officer at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs before joining the ANU and is the Ethics Matters podcast co-presenter.

#2747

Christos Socrates Mantzoros

Christos Socrates Mantzoros

#68187

Overall Influence

Christos Socrates Mantzoros is a Greek American physician-scientist, practicing internist-endocrinologist, teacher and researcher. He is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Medicine. He currently serves as the chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the VA Boston Healthcare System, where he created de novo a leading academic division true to its tripartite mission and as the founding director of human nutrition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center , Harvard Medical School. Finally, he holds the editor-in-chief ...

#2748

William H. Poteat

William H. Poteat

#36924

Overall Influence

1919 - 2000 (81 years)

William H. Poteat was an American philosopher, scholar, and charismatic professor of philosophy, religion, and culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1947 to 1957 and at Duke University from 1960 to 1987. During that time he did foundational work in the critique of Modern and Postmodern intellectual culture. He was instrumental in introducing scientist-philosopher Michael Polanyi and his Post-Critical philosophy to the United States. He was a master of the Socratic Method of teaching and identified himself a "practicing dialectician," skilled through the use of irony...

#2749

Saeid Zibakalam

Saeid Zibakalam

#61787

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Saeid Zibakalam is an Iranian academic and conservative political activist who self-identifies as a justice-seeker." Education and career He gained a PhD in philosophy from University of Leeds in 1990, where he remained a visiting scholar for the next two years, before his return to Iran. He then worked as a research fellow at Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies. Zibakalm is currently a faculty member at University of Tehran.

#2750

John A. Spertus

#79988

Overall Influence

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