List of thinkers contributing to liberal theory Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
This is a partial list of individuals strongly associated with the tradition of political liberalism and instrumental in the exposition of political liberalism as a philosophy, liberal theory, in approximately chronological order, in a long line from Dutchman Baruch Spinoza, the Englishman John Locke and the Frenchman Voltaire to the Americans Ronald Dworkin, Richard Rorty and Francis Fukuyama as well as the Indian Amartya Sen and the Peruvian Hernando do Soto. Some of these people moved away from liberalism, while others espoused other ideologies before turning to liberalism. There are many different views of what constitute liberalism, and some liberals would feel that some of the people on this list were not true liberals. It is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive.
- Niccolo Machiavelli (Florence, 1469-1527)
- Erasmus (Netherlands, 1466-1536)
- Thomas Hobbes (England, 1568-1679)
- Baruch Spinoza (Netherlands, 1632-1677)
- John Locke (England, 1632-1704)
- Voltaire (France, 1694-1778)
- Benjamin Franklin (United States, 1706-1790)
- David Hume (United Kingdom, 1711-1776)
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (France, 1712-1778)
- Denis Diderot (France, 1713-1784)
- Adam Smith (United Kingdom, 1723-1790)
- Charles de Montesquieu (France, 1689-1755)
- Immanuel Kant (Germany, 1724-1804)
- Anders Chydenius (Finland, 1729-1803)
- August Ludwig Schloezer (Germany, 1735-1809)
- Thomas Paine (United Kingdom/United States, 1737-1809)
- Thomas Jefferson (United States, 1743-1826)
- Marquis de Condorcet (France, 1743-1794)
- Jeremy Bentham (United Kingdom, 1748-1832)
- James Madison (United States, 1751-1836)
- Alexander Hamilton (United States, 1755-1804)
- Benjamin Constant (France, 1767-1830)
- Wilhelm von Humboldt (Germany, 1767-1835)
- David Ricardo (United Kingdom, 1772-1823)
- James Mill (United Kingdom, 1773-1836)
- Johan Rudolf Thorbecke (Netherlands, 1798-1872)
- Frédéric Bastiat (France, 1801-1850)
- Alexis de Tocqueville (France, 1805-1859)
- John Stuart Mill (United Kingdom, 1806-1873)
- Herbert Spencer (United Kingdom, 1820-1903)
- Thomas Hill Green (United Kingdom, 1836-1882)
- Ludwig Joseph Brentano (Germany, 1844-1931)
- Tomá Garrigue Masaryk (Czechoslovakia, 1850-1937)
- Émile Durkheim (France, 1858-1917)
- John Dewey (United States, 1859-1952)
- Friedrich Naumann (Germany, 1860-1919)
- Max Weber (Germany, 1864-1920)
- Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse (United Kingdom, 1864-1929)
- Benedetto Croce (Italy, 1866-1952)
- Walther Rathenau (Germany, 1867-1922)
- William Beveridge (United Kingdom, 1879-1973)
- Ludwig von Mises (Austria, 1881-1973)
- John Maynard Keynes (United Kingdom, 1883-1946)
- José Ortega y Gasset (Spain, 1883-1955)
- Salvador de Madariaga (Spain, 1886-1978)
- Wilhelm Röpke (Germany, 1899-1966)
- Bertil Ohlin (Sweden, 1899-1979)
- Friedrich Hayek (Austria, 1899-1992)
- Karl Raimund Popper (Austria/United Kingdom, 1902-1994)
- Alan Paton (South Africa, 1903-1988)
- John Hicks (United Kingdom, 1904-1989)
- Raymond Aron (France, 1905-1983)
- John Kenneth Galbraith (United States, 1908- )
- Isaiah Berlin (Latvia/United Kingdom, 1909-1997)
- Milton Friedman (United States, 1912- )
- James M. Buchanan (United States, 1919- )
- John Rawls (United States, 1921-2002)
- Arthur Schlesinger Jr (United States)
- Ralf Dahrendorf (Germany/United Kingdom, 1929- )
- Karl-Hermann Flach (Germany, 1929-1973)
- Ronald Dworkin (United States, 1931- )
- Richard Rorty (United States, 1931- )
- Amartya Sen (India, 1933- )
- Robert Nozick (United States, 1938-2002)
- Hernando de Soto (Peru, 1941- )
- William Kymlicka (Canada, )
- Francis Fukuyama (United States, 1952- )
- Dirk Verhofstadt (Belgium, 1955- )
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