- Plato: The Good
- Augustine: Grace
- Hobbes: The State of Nature (civil war)
- Rousseau: The State of Nature (innocence)
- Freud: Oedipus
- Heidegger: Being
- Levinas: The Face
- Girard: Human Sacrifice
- Buffett: Intrinsic Value
- @mattyglesias: The Median Voter
- Gotama: Tattvajñāna (of pramāṇa etc.)
- Patañjali: Viveka (of draṣṭṛ and dṛśya)
- Jaimini: Codanā (of Śruti)
- Bādarāyaṇa: Śabda (i.e. Śruti)
- Bhartṛhari: Śabda (i.e. Sphoṭa)
- Śaṅkara: Viveka (of nitya and anitya)
- Abhinavagupta: Śānta-rasa
- Varāhamihira: Everything under the sun
Much later, Karthik on “must read” philosophers of India:
OGs:
- Kapila/Akshapada Gautama
- Siddhartha Gautama Badarayana
- Panini / Patanjali (Vyakarana)
- Patanjali (Yoga)
- Jaimini
NGs:
- Bhartrhari
- Kumarila Bhatta
- Dignaga/Dharmakirti
- Nagarjuna
- Shankaracharya
- Abhinavagupta
Later:
- Vidyaranya
- Annambhatta
- Madhvacharya
- Ramanujacharya
- Sreenarayana Guru
Simplistically, OG philosophers were setting up the foundations. The NGs debated among themselves. The later ones recast systems influenced by those debates.