• Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History (1949); Note: Jaspers coined the term Axial Age.
• Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (1949)
• Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind (1949)
• Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)
• Jean Fourastié, Le Grand Espoir du XXe siècle (1949, no English translation available?)
• Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)

Philosophical fiction edit

• George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

• January 1 - Ljubodrag Simonović, Serbian philosopher, author and basketball player
• January 2 - Iris Marion Young (died 2006)
• January 11 - Jean-Paul Enthoven, French philosopher and publisher
• March 21 - Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian cultural theorist
• April 13 - Christopher Hitchens, British-American journalist (died 2011)
• June 30 - Alain Finkielkraut
• July 18 - Axel Honneth

• November 23 - Gustav Radbruch (born 1878)