With all this talk about today being Shakespeare's birth and death day, I thought I'd see when the big names in philosophy were born and died. I found this handy little resource and, to my surprise, it seems that April is the month to be born or die in the world of philosophy.
So here's my pick of the big names who came into the world, who shuffled off this mortal coil, and the select few that - like Shakespeare - managed to do both in the month of April... in the form of shameless links to previews of our books by or about them!
Births
Starting with the cheery, a rousing happy birthday (belated and premature) to all of the following...
Thomas Hobbes - b. 5th April 1588
Immanuel Kant - b. 22nd April 1724
Marcus Aurelias - b. 26th April 121
Georg Lukács - b. 13th April 1885
David Hume - b. 26th April 1711
Deaths
We lost some great thinkers in Aprils gone by, so spare a moment to consider the impact of these big names...
Simone de Beauvoir - d. 14th April 1986
Jean-Paul Sartre - d. 15th April 1980
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - d. 9th April 1945
Special Mentions
Finally, a very special mention to these following two philosophers, who were born and then later died in the same month...
Edmund Husserl - b. 8th April 1859 and d. 26th April 1938
Ludwig Wittgenstein - b. 26th April 1889 and d. 29th April 1951
So, in conclusion, a note to all budding philosophers out there: If you were born in April, you're probably on to a winner.
Charlotte Hoare
Marketing Executive
UK and Rest of World