Socrates was an Ancient Greek philosopher and is considered the founder of Western thought.  He coined "Socratic ignorance," or the awareness of the absence of one's own knowledge. He also believed in caring for the soul, which means acknowledging one's good qualities and not placing importance on wealth. Lastly, Socrates believed that, "the unexamined life is not worth living." This means that everyone has a responsibility to reflect on their beliefs and decipher what is true or false. 

Jordan Peterson is a Canadian psychologist and Internet personality. Peterson believes Soviet-style communism and the suffering it created remains a serious threat to Western civilization. He claims human behavior and social conventions should be based on the biological, fueling transphobia and a belief in hierarchy. He claims postmodern Western philosophers of the twentieth century were Marxists, and that identity politics are ruining established social order. 

Zora Neale Hurston was an American anthropologist and author. She documented the lives of the African diaspora in the American South, Haiti, and Jamaica. She believed people should be judged and treated according to their actions, not their race. Hurston supported an intrinsic connection between personal self worth and political freedom. Her books are based on her anthropological observations, and while they were not widely recognized during her lifetime they are now renowned. 

Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. Thatcherism supports an independence of the individual from the state and ending government interference in the economy. She also believed in restricting trade unions and cutting funding from social services. Thatcher claims that the government should only be involved in defense and currency, so citizens can pursue individual autonomy.  

Angela Davis is a political activist and professor at UC Santa Cruz. She was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Communist Party, and was arrested in 1971 for her connection to a murder and kidnapping. Davis is a proponent of examining the root causes of crime, looking to systemic racism, poverty, and lack of access to education. Davis believes in prison abolition and supports a criminal justice system that enforces healing and restoration. She emphasizes an intersectional approach to understanding and solving social problems. 

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist and political theorist (and Central grad!). He believes that humans are born with a mentally built-in computational system to understand any language. Chomsky is a harsh critic of American foreign policy, shaping leftist politics for decades. He also believes that humans have a fundamental interest in autonomy which manifests into a libertarian socialist ideology, interest in autonomy explains why humans create destructive systems, and this same quality will mean that humanity can improve by changing its morals.