Giorgio Agamben
His books shift smoothly from discussing Aquinas to critiquing Foucault to applying Spinoza. A real delight to read. Takes up and carries forward many concepts first raised by Deleuze and Foucault.
JL Austin
Oxford "ordinary language" philosopher whose work takes extraordinary turns when Derrida, Fish, & others get a hold of it. Both theorists and analytic philosophers look to his work, leading to amusing turf struggles.
Jean Baudrillard
Tour guide to postmodernism, theorist of America as Disneyland, and slumlord of simulacra.
Judith Butler
"Gender is not a being, but a doing" according to this star of queer theory, performance studies, and just about anything else she touches.
Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari
Take flight with the dynamic duo of deterritorialization. It's not being outside the box; it's realizing that there is no box.
Jacques Derrida
There are few parts of contemporary theory in the United States unaffected by Jacques. He is the basic point of departure.
Stanley Fish
Claims that "if you're smart, you can get ahead in academia, but to really succeed, people need to think you're dangerous." Stanley has done an admirable job of succeeding in academia.
Michel Foucault
Who would have ever guessed that studying prisons and torture could be so fun?
Antonio Gramsci
Donna Haraway
Julia Kristeva
Fredric Jameson
Part of the elite group who has whole books written about them while they're still alive. Check him out to find out why.
Bruno Latour
A risen star who disputes both traditional and "post-modernist" assumptions. A true paradigm shifter, who true to form, shifts the notion of paradigm shifts itself.
Emmanuel Levinas
Antonio Negri
Ferdinand de Saussure
Grand-daddy of much to follow.
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